20,000KM ADVENTURE PRAGUE TO MONGOLIA IN SOVIET AMPHIBIOUS VEHICLES!
Has the 30-year-old F50 nally emerged from the shadow of the F40?
PAGE
‘THE COUNTRY WAS IMPASSABLE – UNLESS YOU HAD CARS THAT FLOAT. IT SEEMED LIKE A SIGN’ PRAGUE-TO-MONGOLIA ADVENTURE
Features
FERRARI F40 & F50 48
After 30 years, the F50 is emerging from the F40’s shadow. Here’s why PLUS owner’s view, market movements and the racing versions
MASERATI 200 S 64
Out of hiding: we drive a wonderfully preserved example of Modena’s racing hero
HYDRO CITROËNS 74
70 years of the incredible DS, plus the weird and wonderful generations that followed
MONGOLIA ADVENTURE 86
Mind-blowing wilderness manoeuvres in Soviet military vehicles
BABY BENTLEY BLOWER 94
85%-scale EV version of the legend
JAGUAR PROJECT 7 100
D-type-inspired and named to celebrate the marque’s seven Le Mans victories
FORD ESCORT 108
Radical Ford-sanctioned Mk1 continuation – plus the Alan Mann original that inspired it
THE OCTANE INTERVIEW 116
Peter Brock, who made Cobras move faster
INNOCENTI C 122
British heart with Italian charm
64
94
Regulars
EVENTS & NEWS
18
World’s greatest classic car events pictured; dates for your diary; International Historic Motoring Awards nominations are open
COLUMNS 37
Motoring musings from Jay Leno, Derek Bell, Stephen Bayley and Robert Coucher
LETTERS 45
In praise of the Corve e ZR-1
OCTANE CARS 132
A trip to France in a Type R; Jag gets clocked
OVERDRIVE 138
New Aston Vantage Roadster; MGA restomod
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN 142
Hal Needham, stuntman turned film director
GEARBOX 144
911 guru and Autofarm founder, Josh Sadler
ICON 146
Vienna’s great wheel: the Wiener Riesenrad CHRONO 148
The revolutionary Rolex Land-Dweller BOOKS 150
Fabulous Aston Martin tome and many more GEAR 152
For your wall, for your shelf or to wear
THE MARKET 156
Insider knowledge, auction news, stats, cars for sale, Ise a bubblecar buying guide
AUTOBIOGRAPHY 194
Rallying superstar Sébastien Loeb
RM 43-01 FERRARI
Manual winding tourbillon movement
70-hour power reserve (± 10%)
Baseplate and bridges in grade 5 titanium and Carbon TPT®
Split-seconds chronograph
Power-reserve, torque and function indicators
Case in Carbon TPT®
Limited edition of 75 pieces
A Racing Machine On The Wrist
WELCOME FROM THE EDITOR
Ups, downs and a hillclimb
James Elliott , Editor in chief
IT’S BEEN A MONTH of highs and lows for me. The high was obviously driving a Ferrari F40 and F50 on the road, bringing a career-long ambition to fruition. It seems it isn’t just me who is entranced by them, either. As we introduced a healthy roar and a bit of panache to the Berkshire countryside on an otherwise routine Wednesday, it genuinely felt like we were brightening people’s days. There was none of the hatred (or the hand gestures) that so often greets, er, ‘intrusive’ cars nowadays, and especially when they are red Ferraris.
These models may be 30 and 38 years old but the impact they had on everyone who saw them, and heard them, looked to be enormous. I lost count of the number of people we left slackjawed at the roadside as I tested the cars with their guardians from V Management. These are true event cars, one a contender to be the greatest of all time, the other a bit of a forgotten child, even today struggling to break free of its big brother’s shadow. Will I toe the traditional journalist’s line in my verdict? Find out from page 48.
The low was the loss of Jochen Mass. Our paths crossed many times over the years; he was unfailingly an utter gent, and a very funny one at that. But there is one occasion that sticks in the mind more than any other. Back in 2017, to mark some of the earliest motorsport achievements of the Mercedes name, the company flew just four journalists (with only myself and Associate Editor Glen Waddington from the UK) and two drivers (Jochen Mass and David Coulthard) down to Nice, where we spent a couple of days driving the old La Turbie hillclimb in some Edwardian leviathans: 40hp, 45hp tourer and 60hp. On that short trip, Jochen – hardly a stress bunny at the best of times – visibly relaxed, parked his PR persona and just enjoyed this very small bunch of blokes loving old cars in circumstances that we were all aware were extremely privileged and unlikely ever to happen again. We always shared a wave and a smile at events after that. But no more, sadly.
SAM CHICK
‘Rolling the F40 and F50 into position offered a tactile sense of their spartan lightness and material fragility. Then photographing them side by side gave an appreciation of the rigorous aerodynamic and aesthetic evolutions between them.’
Sam’s superb images illustrate James Elliott’s feature on pages 48-58
DANIEL BEVIS
‘Having spent much of my childhood being ferried around in hydropneumatic Citroëns, it was a real privilege – and a nostalgic treat – to drive this fabulous quartet. Just don’t ask me to pick a favourite…’
Celebrating 70 years of the extraordinary Citroën DS – and its successors. Turn to pages 74-82.
GF WILLIAMS
‘This shoot of the Jaguar Project 7 took place in the Surrey Hills, using one of the very locations I used for my first ever shoot, over 15 years ago. Coming back with a car this special made it feel like a full-circle moment.’
Read what Elliott Hughes has to say about this modern icon on pages 100-106 FEATURING
NEXT MONTH
ISSUE 266, ON SALE 25 JUNE
Natural territory
Robert Coucher cruises West London
haunts in a perfect Jaguar XJ6
Plus
BMW 328
Driving a pre-war icon with a hidden past
Lotus Type 47
Fat tyres are a clue to the abilities of this demure racer
Cars of the Vatican
The rare limos that pre-dated the Popemobile
Frank Stephenson
Interviewing the man behind McLaren’s rebirth
(Contents may be subject to change)
EDITORIAL
Editor-in-chief James Elliott james@octane-magazine.com
Back issues can be purchased at octane-magazine.com
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AND MANAGEMENT
Marketing and events manager Rochelle Harman
Marketing and events executive Jasmine Love
Accounts administrator Jonathan Ellis accounts@hothousemedia.co.uk
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Hothouse Media Unit 16, Enterprise Centre, Michael Way, Warth Park Way, Raunds, Northants NN9 6GR, UK www.hothousemedia.co.uk
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Syndication and licensing Geo Love geo @hothousemedia.co.uk
Germany Ulrich Sa erling Japan Shiro Horie Netherlands Ton Roks France Yan-Alexandre Damasiewicz Hong Kong, China Chi Chai Chan
Octane is available for international licensing and syndication
Factory for “Course”/Racing-Specification Panhard Retains Original Coachwork and Supplemental Racing-Style Body
1963 MERCEDES-BENZ 300 SL ROADSTER
Late-Production, Disc-Brake, Alloy-Block Example Among the Finest and Most Desirable 300 SL Roadsters in Existence
Low-Mileage Ferrari Classiche-Certified Example
Rare and Largely Unrestored Example One of the Most Iconic Rally Cars of All Time One of Only 207 Examples Built
1994 BUGATTI EB110 SUPER SPORT One of Only 30 Examples Built
FRIDAY AUGUST 15
SATURDAY AUGUST 16
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Ignition
82nd Goodwood Members’ Meeting
12-13 April
There were far too many highlights to list from Goodwood’s spring spectacular, presented by Audrain Motorsport, but Bruno Senna on track in a Lotus 97T to mark the 40th anniversary of uncle Ayrton’s first GP victory in 1985 was right up there. There were plenty of demos from Alpine, Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA and Gordon Murray Automotive among others, while Andrew Jordan won the GT3 Shoot-Out in a Corvette Z06.R. New on-track was the Win Percy Trophy for Group 1 Touring Cars, including Mini 1275GTs, VW Golfs and Ford Fiestas. Kerry Michael and Jake Hill won in a Ford Escort.
Matt Alexander, PA Media Assignments / Peter Summers / Charlie Brenninmkeijer
THIS PAGE, FROM TOP
Cape 1000 16-21 March
Some 65 cars took part in the spectacular South African rally, which was won by Sean and Daisy Flynn in a Mercedes-Benz SLS. Dubbed ‘South Africa’s Most Beautiful Drive’, the 1600km rally a racted 65 cars for only its fourth edition, including exotics such as a 1970 Ferrari Daytona, a 1962 MercedesBenz 300SL Roadster and a 1993 Lamborghini Diablo. Cape 1000
Flying Scotsman 3-6 April
William Medcalf and Ryan Pickering in their 1925 Bentley SuperSports, who won the 650-mile HERO-ERA pre-1948 event from Mike Farrall and Zach Burns’ 1935 Jaguar Standard Swallow SS90 Prototype and John Lomas’s 1936 Riley Sprite. Will Broadhead
Generations Track Day 1 May
Organised by William Medcalf and his Vintage Bentley company, this event is designed to ‘blood’ the next generation by urging Bentley owners to a end a track-day at Goodwood with a younger person in tow so they can get a proper vintage driving experience (and tuition if necessary) at the West Sussex circuit. Michael Stokes
DISPLAYS INCLUDE…
• 140 YEARS OF THE MOTORCAR
• 75 YEARS OF F1
• ASTON MARTIN 1947-1972
• LE MANS WINNER 1955 D-TYPE
• 50 YEARS PORSCHE 911 TURBO
PLUS...
• LIVE MUSIC & VIP HOSPITALITY
• 50 CAR CONCOURS
• SPECIAL GUESTS
• EXHIBITORS VILLAGE
• SPECIAL & RARE MOTORCARS
THIS PAGE, FROM TOP
VSCC Silverstone Spring Start
5 April
The Kellison J4R of Tyzack and Taylor is quickly away in the FISCAR Pre-’62 Motoring News Trophy, which was won by Brian Arculus in a Lotus Elite. The packed racecard also included rather more traditional VSCC fare.
Mick Walker
Audrain Veteran Car Tour
4 May
The fourth running of this 50-mile tour for pre-1918 cars (in two classes: 1895 to 1907 and 1908 to 1918) drew an exceptional turn-out for the Rhode Island rally from Newport to Bristol and back again. Audrain Group President Nic Waller said: ‘It was a treat to welcome back old friends of the Audrain, such as the inimitable Wayne Carini, as well as new collectors to the event.’
Joshua Sweeney / Shoot for Detail
Techno-Classica Essen
9-13 April
The 35th mammoth event in the German city marked the end of an era as it was the last organised by SIHA, which has run it since the outset. The slot at Messe Essen has been handed to Retro Classics, which is behind the popular Stu gart and Bavaria events, but Michel Franssen of SIHA has pledged TechnoClassics will continue in a new venue.
Günter Biener
Sea and Air Freight
Worldwide Customs Brokerage
Race and Rally Transportation
International Storage
UK and European Trucking
Vehicle Registration
CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP LEFT
BOC Prescott British and Midland Hillclimb Championships 26-27 April
E ore’s Bend took a pounding over the busy two-day event. Peter McFadyen
Drive it Day 27 April
The 50-car line-up at the fourth Drive it Day meet at Castle View Retirement Living in Windsor typefies the variety and atmosphere. Castle View Windsor
Lando and Skyline
3 April
Lando Norris drove the Liberty Walk R32 Skyline through Tokyo for Monster Energy, Quadrant and Liberty Walk. Monster Energy
Supersixties Spa Summer Classic 25-27 April
SuperSixties kicked o its 2025 season with 53 cars at Spa; Kennet Persson (Ford GT40) was third in race 1 and won race 2. Carlos Senten
Proflex Manx Rally 11-12 April
Ben Innes enjoyed his 50th birthday in a Ford Escort Mk1 he’s owned for 17 years. Ben Lawrence
CSCC Donington 12-13 April
A big moment for John Moon (Lenham GT) during the Swinging Sixties race. Peter McFadyen
VSCC Curborough 4 May
The Collings family Mercedes in full flow. Peter McFadyen
DRIVING EXPERIENCES OF A LIFETIME
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CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP
Invicta Cars
Centenary 26-27 April
The Invicta Car Club organised a superb selection of cars and people – at Wilton House and then at Brooklands the next day – to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the marque being founded.
Amy Shore
BHRC Carlisle Stages 12 April
Adam Milner scored maximum category points to move into the BHRC lead in his 1600cc Ford Escort Mk1 Mexico.
Ben Lawrence
Donington
Historic Festival 2-4 May
More than 300 competition cars took to the track for this phenomenal event, with spectator numbers up 13% on 2024. Under new owner Motor Racing Legends, the festival had an extra day, used the full GP circuit for the first time, and hosted the fireworks of the GT3 Legends grid. Demos included the ex-Jenson Bu on Williams-BMW FW22, the ex-Giancarlo Fisichella Bene on B198 and Super Touring cars.
Michael Holden
Alfa Revival Cup 25-27 April
Davide Bertinelli was triumphant in 2025’s first round, which was at the Red Bull Ring in Austria. The next two rounds are at Vallelunga and Misano.
Canossa Events
BLENHEIM PALACE, OXFORDSHIRE 27–31 AUGUST 2025
20 th Anniversary Celebration Driving Tours
The Salon Privé exclusive Rally and GT Tour Experience
• Fine dining including Grill by James Martin at the Lygon Arms and Michelin-starred Restaurant Hywel Jones by Lucknam Park
• Five-star accommodation at Lucknam Park and Lakes by Yoo
• VIP Hospitality day at Salon Privé Blenheim Palace
• Exclusive touring — limited to just 23 cars
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Dates for your diary
30 May – 1 June
Greenwich Concours d’Elegance
Again preceded by a ‘concours de sport’ featuring competition cars, homologation specials, supercars and hot rods. greenwichconcours.com
31 May – 1 June
Masters Historic Festival
At Brands Hatch and with grids for classic F1 cars, pre-’66 GTs, pre-’66 Touring Cars and more. mastershistoricracing.com
31 May – 1 June
Coventry Motofest Weekender
Featuring the popular Coventry Concours for vehicles built or designed in the city. coventrymotofest.com
1 June
Valletta Concours
Classics assemble in Malta’s capital against a backdrop of impressive Baroque buildings. vallettaconcours.com
3-5 June
London Concours
Classes at the Honourable Artillery Company in London
will include one for ‘Fast Fords’. londonconcours.co.uk
4-7 June
Kitzbühler Alpenrallye
Crews competing in four classes drive 600km of jaw-dropping roads in Austria’s Tyrol region. alpenrallye.at
6-8 June
Grand Prix de l’Age d’Or
Some 300 classic competition cars tackle Dijon-Prenois circuit. peterauto.fr
7 June
VSCC Harewood Hill Climb
Always a fun hillclimb to attend as a spectator: unusually, the whole of the course is visible from the paddock. vscc.co.uk
8 June
Banbury Run
Pre-1931 motorbikes putter en masse from the British Motor Museum to Banbury and back. banbury-run.co.uk
8 June
Cincinnati Concours d’Elegance
‘Icons of British Motoring’ will
take centre stage, but we’re most interested to see what turns up in the ‘Automotive Oddities’ class. ohioconcours.com
13-15 June
Vernasca Silver Flag
In Italy, pre-1973 competition cars sprint up an 8.5km hillclimb that begins in the beautiful medieval town of Castell’Arquato. vernascasilverflag.it
13-15 June
Nürburgring Classic
Wheel-to-wheel racing at the Nürburgring, where spectators are invited to walk the grid. nuerburgringclassic.de
14 June
Haynes Autojumble
Parts, automobilia and vintage collectibles will be up for grabs at the Haynes Museum. haynesmuseum.org
14-15 June
Dinard Elegance
Free to attend for spectators, and held in the French town that lays claim to hosting the first ever concours for motor cars. dinard-elegance.com
14-15 June
Brooklands Relived With speed trials, and recalling the days when Brooklands was the epicentre of racing in Britain. brooklandsmuseum.com
15 June
Beaulieu Custom and American Show
Yank tanks, muscle cars and hot rods rumble into the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu. beaulieu.co.uk
17-21 June
Mille Miglia
Brescia to Rome and back in a hurry, in the company of some of the world’s greatest classic cars. 1000miglia.it
20 June
Cocktails & Classics
A relaxed evening event at the Classic Motor Hub in Bibury, with a display of classic cars, live music, and tasty drinks made by an expert mixologist. classicmotorhub.com
20-22 June
Thruxton Retro
A new event promising family fun as well as racing action. The theme for 2025 is ‘Superfunk’; expect to see lots of 1970s cars, and to hear some disco music! thruxtonracing.co.uk
20-22 June
The Battle Father/son and father/daughter crews take part in a lighthearted and beginner-friendly regularity rally in the South of France. happyfewracing.com
20-22 June
Historic Grand Prix Zandvoort
Three days of exciting racing at Zandvoort on the Dutch coast. historicgrandprix.nl
21 June
Lucas Classic
British cars and motorcycles run the hill at Shelsley Walsh. thelucasclassic.com
Concours d’Elegance Suisse, 21-22 June | Image: Amy Shore
21-22 June
Concours d’Elegance Suisse
The Château de Coppet near Geneva welcomes a field of 100 classics from around the world. concoursdelegancesuisse.com
21-29 June
The Great Race
More than 120 crews – all chasing a cash prize as well as a good time – contest a regularity rally starting in St Paul, Minnesota, and finishing nine days later in Lake Murray, South Carolina. greatrace.com
22 June
Hillsborough Concours
Held just outside San Francisco, and with classes and displays for everything from vintage racing cars to classic ambulances. hillsboroughconcours.org
22 June – 3 July
Carrera Andalucia
A 2200km regularity rally in mainland Spain’s southernmost region, featuring several special tests at racetracks. rallytheglobe.com
26-29 June
La Leggenda di Bassano
A first-rate regularity rally for classic open-top competition cars, held in northern Italy. laleggendadibassano.com
26 June – 14 July
White Nights
From the start in Copenhagen, crews will drive north through Sweden, Finland and Norway, chasing the midnight sun. bespokerallies.com
27 June
Hope Classic Rally
Entrants motor around Surrey, each driver taking the wheel of a classic car lent to the event by a generous owner. The Rally raises money for WeSeeHope, a charity helping kids in sub-Saharan Africa. hopeclassicrally.org
27-29 June
Dragstalgia
Santa Pod Raceway serves up the sights, sounds and smells of drag racing in years gone by. santapod.co.uk
28 June
VSCC Southern Rally
Members of the VSCC head to the New Forest for the club’s traditional summer rally. vscc.co.uk
28-29 June
Heveningham Concours
The field of cars at Heveningham Hall in Suffolk will as usual be complemented by a fabulous display of vintage aircraft. heveninghamconcours.com
28 June – 1 July
L’Échappée Alpine
A rally in the Savoie and HauteSavoie departments of France, with a route boasting no fewer than 22 mountain passes. zaniroli.com
3-6 July
Le Mans Classic
The storied Circuit de la Sarthe welcomes back cars of a type that raced in the 24 Hours of Le Mans between 1923 and 1981. lemansclassic.com
BOOK NOW!
Secure your place; make travel plans
Ice Drive Sweden February 2026
Four groups can take part in this Classic Grand Touring offering over a range of dates in February, one of which will experience a new four-night package staying in the ski town of Salen, with the traditional two days of ice driving and a third day with snowmobiles and dog-sledding. classicgt.co.uk
Anantara Concorso Roma 16-19 April 2026
The inaugural concours, scheduled for last month but postponed due to the funeral of Pope Francis, will now take place in spring 2026. With UBS as presenting partner, its focal point will be the spectacular Anantara Palazzo Naiadi Rome hotel (above), with the 50 all-Italian motoring greats displayed at Casina Valadier. Many of those signed up for 2025 have confirmed their participation in 2026. anantaraconcorsoroma.com
Nordic Challenge June/July 2026
A two-week competitive rally across Scandinavia, Rally the Globe’s most northerly adventure yet takes in some of the less-explored parts of the Nordic countries and visits some iconic rallying areas. It’s open to pre-1977 cars, with a separate classification for pre-1946 cars, on asphalt and gravel roads and in a variety of tests and regularities. rallytheglobe.com
Grand Prix of South America 22 October to 25 November 2026
A five-week, 11,000km competitive event from Montevideo to Cartegena, combining regularity, closed roads and circuits. There will be six classes ranging from pre-1950 to Touring, with a special class for cars of the type that ran in the original 1948 event. This is Bespoke Rallies’ second visit, having run its first 70th-anniversary event in 2018. Highlights will include Buenos Aires, Cusco and Quito. bespokerallies.com
Le Mans Classic, 3-6 July | Image: Bruno Vandevelde/MPSA
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY TIM SCOTT, CHARLIEB, TOM SHAXSON
THE RAREST CARS IN THE WORLD
HAMPTON COURT PALACE | 5–7 SEPTEMBER 2025
Now’s the time to nominate your historic heroes!
Help the stars of the classic car world receive the honours they deserve in London this November
NOMINATIONS are officially open for the 2025 International Historic Motoring Awards. The awards, sponsored by insurance specialist Lockton and to be presented in a glittering ceremony at the stunning Peninsula London hotel on 14 November, were founded in 2011 and have become a highlight of the motoring calendar.
The International Historic Motoring Awards are the only global awards that seek to acknowledge and reward excellence across both the historic and modern performance car industries and hobbies and are thought
by many to represent the pinnacle of achievement.
All but two of the awards are judged by a jury of greats from the classic and performance car worlds, and last year ranged from the likes of ‘Supercar Blondie’ Alex Hirschi to Octane columnists Jay Leno and Derek Bell. Of the remaining awards, Car of the Year is decided by readers of Octane and sister publication Magneto, while the Lifetime Achievement Award (last year won jointly by Sylviane and Patrick Peter) is picked by an independent panel of judges.
The ceremony is an unmissable occasion that will again take
place at the spectacular Peninsula London, with priceless cars in the hotel’s famous courtyard as well as inside and outside the ballroom. In the sold-out 2024 edition, 400 guests were formally welcomed by Rowan Atkinson and the 2025 ceremony will again be hosted by Amanda Stretton.
One of the greatest aspects of the whole IHMA process is that anyone can nominate anyone they feel is deserving of the recognition – even themselves! All you have to do is go to historicmotoringawards.co.uk/ nominate, where you can register your choices.
There is no limit to how many
people you can nominate across the awards’ 16 categories (see right), which have been tweaked very slightly for 2025. Among the changes is the incorporation of Book of the Year into a broader Best Use of Media of the Year category, rebranding Young Achiever of the Year back to Rising Star of the Year, and adding an award for the Historic Race Series of the Year.
All the categories are listed on the right. To book a table, contact Jasmine Love on jasmine@ hothousemedia.co.uk; to explore sponsorship opportunities, contact Geoff Love on geoff@ hothousemedia.co.uk.
Salon Privé’s 20th anniversary is gearing up to be its best ever show
WITH preparations for the huge 20th anniversary edition of Salon Privé well underway, it seems certain that it will present the best event yet on 27-31 August. Having started at the Hurlingham Club in Fulham in 2006, the concours then took over Syon Park in Brentford before moving to its current home at spectacular Blenheim Palace in 2015.
Since moving to the Oxfordshire stately home that is the ancestral seat of the Dukes of
Marlborough and the Spencer family, the event has grown exponentially and now offers a tantalising five full days of motoring activity.
The focal point will always be the ICJAG-judged concours itself, of course, and highlights for 2025 will include the usual raft of reveals and debuts plus a delectable pair of Bugattis spanning two ages of the company – a 1937 Type 57C Atalante and 1993 EB110 prototype. The many eclectic classes are also promising a top-tier display of British Grand Tourers from the ’60s and ’70s, including Aston Martin and Jaguar, plus the usual dose of Italian glamour from the likes of Alfa Romeo, Ferrari and Lamborghini.
A now-enormous part of Salon Privé is the weekend activity, with Supercar Saturday and the Club Trophy presented by Lockton on Saturday 30 August. 2025 highlights are set to include record-breaking displays by the De Tomaso UK Drivers Club, an Invicta Car Club Centenary Celebration display, the Morgan Sports Car Club celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the Plus Four, plus much more, including Lancia, Lotus, Porsche and a plethora of other top marques. Supercar Sunday and Lifestyle Club Trophy the following day will star 11 exclusive invited multi-marque supercar and lifestyle clubs, plus a host of prestige single-model clubs such as GT40, R8 and XJ-S. This year there will also be two
special Salon Privé 20th Anniversary Celebration tours based around the event: the Blenheim Rally Tour on 26-28 August will be for cars built between 1940 and 1985, while the Blenheim GT Tour on 27-29 August is for younger cars. For more information on any aspect of the event or to book your tickets, you should visit the event website at salonpriveconcours.com.
THE CATEGORIES
Rising Star of the Year
The person under 30 years old before 14 November 2025 who has demonstrated outstanding work in the collector car world over the past year.
Personal Achievement of the Year
The person who has made a significant difference to the collector car world through their personal endeavours since November 2024.
Car of the Year
Chosen by public vote from a shortlist compiled by the Octane and Magneto magazine teams, this is for the car – classic or new – that has made the greatest impact on the collector world. It might be a barn-find, a newly completed restoration, a race, rally or concours winner, or simply a car that attracted huge positive attention.
Bespoke Car of the Year
The most significant one-off or low-volume new car that has been launched since November 2024, whether fully coachbuilt, built from scratch or a tasteful restomod.
Specialist of the Year
The specialist that has made the most significant contribution to the collector car world, or that has achieved something new or special for its own benefit, since November 2024. This covers all genres, from sales to restoration to parts supply.
Restoration of the Year
The best classic car restoration completed since November 2024, demonstrating skills, understanding of history, provenance and overall achievement.
Race Series of the Year
The historic race series, whether national or international, in any country, that has demonstrated particular success and/or innovation since November 2024.
Club of the Year
For the car club, big or small, that has made a significant achievement this year, whether it is celebrating an anniversary, improving member benefits or anything else that the club can be proud of.
Industry Supporter of the Yea
r
The individual or organisation that has made the greatest contribution to the collector car world this year, whether in time, initiatives or funding.
Museum of the Year
The museum that has achieved the most this year, whether in exhibits, additions to its collection, innovations or anything else out of the ordinary for the organisation.
Best Use of Media
The best publication, article, website, video, film, social media or any other type of collector car-focused media of the year. This may be a new release or a significant achievement.
Breakthrough Event of the Year
Any collector car event that had its inaugural running after November 2024 and that has demonstrated a successful launch, innovation, and/or achievement.
Rally or Tour of the Year
The best collector car rally or tour that has taken place since November 2024, regardless of size or location, but demonstrating innovation, participant satisfaction or significant achievement. This category excludes competitive stage rallies, which should be entered into Motorsport Event of the Year.
Motoring Event of the Year
The world’s best motoring event, whether a festival, concours, one-marque gathering, anniversary celebration or other collector car show. Entrants to this category should show specific innovation, success or achievements since 2024.
Motorsport Event of the Year
The best collector car competitive motorsport event in the world, whether racing, hillclimbing, stage rallies, sprints, drag racing or other. Entrants to this category should show innovation or achievements since November 2024.
Lifetime Achievement
The person who has spent their working life involved in the automotive world and who is judged to have made significant differences to that world along the way.
As Octane was going to press, news broke that a huge fire at Bicester Motion had claimed the lives of two firefighters and a member of the public, with two more firefighters being treated for injuries. We must stress that, at that point, the blaze was under control but still being closely monitored, the Bicester site was locked-down and many details of the fire and the loss of life were yet to come to light or be confirmed.
However, what was known was that emergency services were called to Bicester Motion on 15 May after a fire broke out in one of the former RAF base’s historic hangars at around 6.30pm. Local residents described thick smoke, ash falling from the sky, and ‘loud explosions’. The fire raged into the night and it took ten fire and rescue crews to bring the blaze under control.
At the time of writing, the cause of the fire was unknown, but it has destroyed Building 79 (circled on the map below, and used for storage of vehicles), not to be confused with the larger Historit storage hangar (108) or the large events hangar (113), which are both unaffected.
Bicester Heritage opened on the site of a former RAF bomber base in 2013 as a hub for the historic vehicle movement. Since then its historic buildings have been restored to house some of the UK’s leading classic car businesses and in 2019 it was re-named Bicester Motion.
Below
Building 79, formerly used as an aircraft hangar, was destroyed.
First motor show revived
OCTANE HAS PARTNERED with The Royal Tunbridge Wells Festival of Motoring to celebrate the 130th Anniversary of the Kent town’s hosting of the UK’s first motor show. A special event will be held on 2-3 August on the historic Pantiles in Royal Tunbridge Wells, not far from where the original took place at the end of the 19th Century.
The original show, a ‘Horseless Carriage Exhibition’ at the agricultural showground on 15 October 1895, was organised by Mayor and pioneer motorist Sir David Salomons, who defied the Red Flag Act to drive his own Peugeot Vis-à-Vis to the event in excess of the 2mph urban and 4mph suburban speed limits and without the legally required flag waver.
Two further Horseless Carriage Exhibitions took place in 1961 and ’66, with Donald Campbell opening the latter. Now comes the fourth. Organised by local automotive specialists Dylan Miles, Jo Horwood, Anthony Godin, Daniel Cogger and Chelsea Crathern, the Royal Tunbridge Wells Festival of Motoring will celebrate the town’s automotive history as well the area’s many motoring businesses. Historic cars and motorcycles will be exhibited by 11 leading companies: Autohistoric, BOXD LDN, CKL Developments, Crosthwaite & Gardiner, Dylan Miles, Eagle, Furlonger, Godin Sporting Cars & Motorcycles, Jota Sport, Malle and Paragon.
For more info on the free event see rtwmotorfest.com.
AC in The City
A rare AC 428 Frua Spider and an ex-Donald Campbell Aceca will be among the 12 ‘Legendary AC Cars’ making up a special class at the ninth London Concours, to be held at the Honourable Artillery Company on 3-5 June. Tickets can be bought at londonconcours.co.uk/tickets.
Our Nige at Goodwood
The 1992 Formula 1 World Champion Nigel Mansell will drive two Williams F1 cars as the Goodwood Festival of Speed celebrates 75 years of the Formula 1 World Championship on 10-13 July. Mansell is set to take the wheel of both Williams FW11 and FW14B.
Dodge Daroo recreated
Customiser Andy Saunders (see Octane 239) will unveil his latest creation at Beaulieu’s Custom & American Show on Sunday 15 June. Using only six surviving photos and no technical specs, Saunders has recreated the long-lost Bill Brownlie and George Barris Dodge Daroo from 1967. Saunders’ version, named Daroo 1/3, reflects ‘both versions of the original while adding a new chapter to its history’.
Parts to be hit by tariffs
While manufacturers have caught a break with the first 100,000 UK cars exported to the US attracting a reduced tariff of 10%, the Historic and Classic Vehicles Alliance has warned of continued impact on the exports of parts. Certain car parts, including those for historic vehicles, will be among exports from the UK still affected by the 25% tariff, it says.
New gavel in Paris
Auction company Gooding Christie’s has made landfall on mainland Europe in the most dramatic fashion with the announcement that it will be taking over the sale at Rétromobile in Paris, an event catered for by homegrown French auction house Artcurial in recent years. The inaugural Gooding Christie’s sale will coincide with event organiser Comexposium marking the 50th anniversary of the show founded by Marc Nicolosi. It even plans to launch a companion event in New York in November 2026.
Winning man and machine
Charles Arton, who featured in Octane 242 with the 1979 March 79a Formula Atlantic single-seater that had been badly fire-damaged, has claimed his second Classic Conqueror title at the Simola Hillclimb in the restored car –a decade on from his first win in 2015. He set a time of 44.436sec in the Top 10 Shootout.
Lost horizons
Photographer GF Williams has launched Get Lost: Project Safari, a ground-up reimagining of the Lotus Elise S1. With customer builds set to start later this year, he says the venture was fuelled by the simple pursuit of creating a car that’s fun. The result is said to combine rally attitude, road trip capability and bespoke design.
See getlostautomotive.com.
Bridge of sighs
The ninth edition of The Bridge, a prestigious invitation-only event held at the Bridge Golf Club on the site of the old Bridgehampton Motor Circuit, will take place on 13 September. Taking advantage of the stunning Hamptons setting on the US East Coast, The Bridge displays some 300 ultra-desirable cars and eschews what it calls ‘traditional’ concours judging!
Festival takes a break
The Chattanooga Motorcar Festival has announced that the 2025 edition will be postponed until 2026, due to ‘continuing restructuring and expansion of the Chattanooga community, and the Festival’s ongoing re-evaluation of the dynamic family-friendly activities it can offer’. Having been launched in 2019, the event has grown to include on-track competition, concerts, outstanding displays and a top-notch concours.
Auction deal extension
Bonhams|Cars has renewed and extended its longstanding partnership with Goodwood. The renewed deal between Bonhams|Cars and Goodwood will take the 33-year relationship between the two up to 2030.
Venice collaboration
Gateway to Venice’s Waterway is the name of the result of a creative collaboration between the Norman Foster Foundation and Porsche. Architects from the Foundation and designers from the car company worked together on the future of urban mobility and came up with the vision of a Venice transport hub for Porsche’s eighth Art of Dreams programme for the Biennale Architettura 2025. It is located at the Arsenale Biennale beside the Armstrong Mitchell Hydraulic Crane.
Brits star in Cincinnati
The 47th Cincinnati Concours d’Elegance is to honour Icons of British Motoring as its featured theme for 2025. The 250-car event at Cincinnati’s Ault Park on Sunday 8 June will have 21 classes for classic, vintage, and exotic automobiles and motorcycles, including the 100th anniversary of Chrysler, Indian Motorcycles and Automotive Oddities: The Strange and Wonderful.
Ligier at the Royal palace
One of only 20 roadworthy Ligier JS2s is to be at Hampton Court Palace for Concours of Elegance 2025 on 5-7 September. Built by racer, rugby player and all-round polymath Guy Ligier, the JS2 was designed by Michel Tetu – who went on to own this example. For full event details, visit concoursofelegance.co.uk.
F1 in the New Forest
A new display at the National Motor Museum until November celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championship by gathering nine F1 cars, ranging from BRM V16 to Williams FW43B via Lotus, March, Ferrari, Red Bull and more. Visitors can also enjoy simulator sessions, to get a sense of the rush of piloting a Formula 1 single-seater.
Jochen Mass RIP
German F1 and endurance ace Jochen Mass passed away on 4 May, aged 78, as a result of a stroke he suffered in February. A huge character and stalwart at many historic events including Goodwood, he will be greatly missed. Please see octanemagazine.com for a full obituary and also a full Octane interview conducted with him in 2019.
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Campaigned by 'The Flying Dentist,' SCCA Champion Dr. Dick Thompson, this 1957 Porsche 356 A Carrera GT claimed a class win as a factory entry at Sebring in 1958 at the hands of “der Rennbaron” Huschke Von Hanstein and longtime factory racer Herbert Linge. Factory-built for competition with alloy panels and lightweight appointments, it has since triumphed again on the concours lawn with class wins at The Amelia, Greenwich, and beyond.
Jay Leno The Collector
Taking a pragmatic view in a divided world
In almost 20 years of doing this column, as well as Jay Leno’s Garage show on YouTube, I’m amazed at how politicised our hobby has become. I enjoy anything that rolls, explodes and makes noise. To many people these days, if you like electric you’re a tree-hugging communist. If you like internal combustion you’re a gun-toting Neanderthal who enjoys rolling coal.
My favourites are the people who claim to have insider knowledge. ey know for a ‘fact’ that I get hundreds of thousands of dollars to promote this vehicle or that one. ey claim to have friends in the industry that have con rmed this. Actually, for the rst 18 years of doing the show we didn’t make a dime, since we used professional camera and lighting people and professional-grade equipment. At best we’d break even. Fortunately, my day job as a television presenter made me enough money to allow me this luxury and I really enjoy doing it. To have collectors as well as high-end automobile manufacturers asking me to please drive their cars is every auto enthusiast’s dream, as it was mine.
I don’t consider myself an expert. I like to think I know a li le more than the average guy but not nearly as much as the specialist. I rarely take cars out on track because I’m not a race car driver. Just because I enjoy doing something and can a ord it doesn’t mean I’m good at it.
I have great respect for those road-test journalists who can drive these vehicles at their limit and report their strengths and weaknesses. I think of myself as the average guy who just happened to win the lo ery and could buy any car he wanted, and I hope that’s the way it comes across. I don’t have an engineering or design background. My favourite thing about my McLaren F1 is that I’ll probably never nd its limits, but it is fun trying.
Politics can ruin anything. I hate seeing all the brilliant engineers and designers at Tesla being castigated for something they had nothing to do with. I had a similar thing happen to me when I did a bene t for a hospital that had treated me. ey had a ward for children whose parents couldn’t a ord care. In the interim someone at the hospital had acted inappropriately and it was all over social media. I was bombarded with texts and emails: why was I associated with such a place? I should distance myself from them. It’s a small lunatic fringe but
there are still enough of them to make your life hell. Here in America – a crazy place, I admit – electric cars have gone from being a le -wing ‘Save e Planet’ issue to a conspiracy to get rid of petroldriven cars. Like many people, during the week I use my electric vehicles plus a car and a motorcycle for commuting and running errands. On weekends I drive my ICE classics. Seems a fair trade-o to me. Surely the more that alternative vehicles are used, the less stringent legislators need to be on our sports cars and classics. Here in California there’s a Bill in the State legislature to waive the mandatory smog inspection for cars of 35 years or older. e Bill is called Leno’s Law. I didn’t name it, the Press did. It’s because older cars don’t have on-board diagnostics, and they require a rolling-road type of testing where you drive the car up on rollers and spin the wheels. ese tests are extremely hard to nd today; there are only two providers in southern California. e proportion of cars in California that are over 35 years old is less than 1%. If your car is smoking you’ll still be cited, but it seems to me you should only have to meet the standard for the year your vehicle is built. at seems more than fair. When I testi ed to the Bill in front of the State legislature I used alcohol as my example. It’s bad for you but everybody does it. So, we set a limit of 0.08. Why can’t we have a similar thing for older cars? I have a 1989 Bentley Turbo R. It’s got 27,000 miles on it. People still ask me if it’s a new car. If I can’t nd a rolling-road tester I can’t drive it. It was good enough in 1989 so what’s changed? I don’t need a new one, this one is still good. Isn’t it more wasteful to buy a new one? Plus, why make criminals out of people who are trying to do the right thing?
I think we have a good chance of ge ing the Bill passed because, the more we talked, various legislators told me about what collector cars they own, from a ’62 Oldsmobile to several classic Mustangs. I stressed to them the fact that California was the birthplace of hot rodding. With the help of SEMA, the Specialty Equipment Manufacturers’ Association, it is a $6bn industry.
e Bill passed the rst part of the legislature. e big vote comes up in September.
Cross your ngers. I’ll keep you posted.
Jay was talking with Jeremy Hart.
‘My 1989 Bentley Turbo R has 27,000 miles on it. Isn’t it wasteful to buy a new one?’
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The Legend
Derek Bell
Lamenting the loss of a unique rally co-driver
Roger Clark featured prominently in last month’s column, and I suppose I blame him for fostering my interest in rallying. at said, it was his namesake Jim Clark who made me want to contest the C Rally. He was my motorsport hero way back when. All of us young guns in the 1960s worshipped him. Jim famously contested the event in 1966 and impressed with his speed. He was fastest of them all on one stage, but he had a few too many o -road excursions. As such, he wasn’t among the nishers.
e point is, I dreamed of emulating Jim and being an all-rounder. I am a ‘roundy-round’ circuit man, but I have tried everything from hillclimbing to lawnmower racing in the past. I had conversations about contesting the Paris-Dakar rally raid, too, and my old mate Jean-Pierre Jarier suggested I join him in a team of adapted Range Rovers, but scheduling issues got in the way. What I really wanted, though, was to ‘do a Jimmy’ and have a go at Britain’s round of the World Rally Championship.
An opportunity presented itself in 1987. I was 45 years old when I accepted the o er of a drive on the C Rally with GM Dealer Sport. I would be armed with a works Opel Kade GSi. My rst contact with the car was on the test track at Gaydon, where my team-mate Malcolm Wilson showed me what the car could do. Rally drivers are a di erent breed, and I will admit to having felt a bit queasy a er he’d ung the car around on gravel.
Truth be told, I was scared sti ! I then did three or four laps on the ‘loose’ in the li le Opel and the whole thing was completely alien. I wasn’t used to front-wheel drive, and I hadn’t a empted le -foot braking before, but I gradually got accustomed to it. I was paired with Mike Nicholson for the rally proper. Mike was General Motors motorsport through and through, and a rally man to the core. We hit it o instantly, which was just as well as I was unused to having someone si ing alongside me while travelling at-chat.
e language of rallying was ba ing. I had to learn the di erences between, say, a ‘Fast K’ and a ‘90-right’ corner. On the eve of the event, I remember someone yelling to me: ‘Derek, you’re going to win this.’ I replied something along the lines of: ‘Are you mad?’ It was a new discipline, and I was
on the nursery slopes. I was also in a small hatchback against four-wheel-drive rocketships. e odd thing, though, was that I was one of the top-seeded drivers purely because of my achievements in sports cars.
Many of you will be familiar with how the rally went, given that my embarrassment lives on in infamy. Early on, I went through a water splash and ooded the engine. I subsequently went through another water splash – this time a televised one, but here I thro led back to a crawl. e car died the moment we entered the water. e engine air intake, which was ducted through the front spoiler, had channelled water into the cylinders during the rst water splash. e pistons were trying to push against a few litres of water.
Even so, a er lots of e ng and je ng, and judicious amounts of WD40, we carried on and I was in my element during the nal stage of the day. It was on asphalt at Oulton Park, although we ran it anti-clockwise. We were going great guns and then the engine suddenly went pop. I still have a bent conrod and piston from that day. ey’re mounted on a plinth in my o ce. I was gu ed that the rally ended so badly, but the team manager Melvin Hodgson told me that I was going to drive for GM again a year later.
I did, too, but rst we did a pre-event shakedown by way of contesting the Cambrian Rally in North Wales. Mike was my wingman once again, this time in a li le Vauxhall Astra, and I was having a blast until I caught a rock with a front wheel on the nal stage and the car rolled over. I was distraught because I rarely crashed.
I was also concerned about Mike because he was a tall chap. He laughed it o , though. I will never forget him saying: ‘Ooh, it’s been such a long time since I last had a ******* good crash!’
e C Rally in 1988 was action-packed, but we nished 27th. I was happy just to have ended it shiny side up. at was our nal a empt, although Mike and I contested the following year’s Tour of Britain in an Astra. I never mastered rallying, but I look back on those escapades with great fondness. is column is being wri en a day a er I received a phone call from Mike’s wife Marie. Sadly, he died in April.
ere are people you meet in life who make a big impression, and he was one of them. Mike was a one-o and a friend to the end.
‘I have a bent conrod and piston from that day, on a plinth in my office’
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The Aesthete
Stephen Bayley
The next level of personal transportation questions its very necessity
What passes for my thinking nowadays occurs when I am running. A sluggish 6km, if you ask, and more a partly controlled dynamic stumble. Anyway, my thinking is about stu I have not yet wri en. Perhaps an opera with a motoring theme: surely this would have to be e Piston Ring Cycle. Or more likely a forensic study of the sad decline of the automobile, provisionally called Great Car Formats We Have Lost (It’ll get a snappier title eventually.) e three-volume sedan has almost disappeared. And I know Volvo makes tful a empts at an encore, but the estate car is now a rarity. So too are drop-top, front-engined two-seaters. But what a charming and anomalous anachronism ‘sports car’ is! An a empt to reconcile fresh air and athleticism with the dirty habits of combustion engines. A friend was not amused when I called his Z4 an MGBmw.
We all know, even if we are reluctant to accept it, that in future the experience of driving will be replaced by the experience of being driven. Dynamic parameters will give way to sensory ones. We must reconcile ourselves that the great emotion of a successful gearchange and subjugating an apex will be replaced by that of si ing comfortably.
To get a sense of what is coming, consider Manha an’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel circa 1995, where the Lincoln Town Car dominated. A successor in concept to the classic ‘coupe de ville’ format, the Town Car was obviously unsuited to fast driving on narrow mountain roads, but as a passenger experience it was sublime. On entering, you involuntarily exhaled an ‘ah’ of satisfaction just as you do with the rst sip of a cold beer on a hot day.
But just as the Town Car was going out of production in 2011, Mercedes-Benz vans began to dominate the mobility options for residents of de luxe hotels. As any traveller knows, black V-class vans have overtaken even S-class limousines in that rare ed area where the red carpet ends. Never mind that they have a ride quality reminiscent of a supermarket trolley with one blocked wheel being dragged over corrugated concrete, the V-class, like the Lincoln Town Car, o ered a delightful experience of accommodation. It was the epochal intersection of the limo and van formats.
With a con dent authority appropriate to this most magisterial of manufacturers, Mercedes-Benz has revealed what will, aesthetically speaking, happen at this new intersection. For the fastidious aesthete, there is cause for alarm. I know this because I have seen Mercedes’ van concepts for 2026. Once, designers of repute shrank from kitsch, but Gorden Wagener has embraced techno-kitsch with the undecorous enthusiasm of a religious convert.
Additionally, it’s a truth that the cool eye and rm hand of e German Designer have historically been reliable sources of functional satisfaction. A chair made of tubular steel? Got it. But when faced with luxury, discipline escapes them.
In the ‘Vision-V’ there will be ‘exciters in the seats’, so there is a danger of grande marque Champagne being spilled onto white Nappa leather and ‘shimmering silk’. Wagener says his concept represents ‘perfect harmony between luxury and design’. But I’d remind him of Coco Chanel’s belief that luxury is not the opposite of poverty, it’s the opposite of vulgarity.
Never mind, progress and Gorden march on unabashed. He will use wood ‘similar to an exclusive sideboard’, which brings us with a thump to bourgeois mediocrity. Still, there will be 42 loudspeakers, and a 65in cinema screen will ‘glide’ into place, showing soothing landscapes to calm the nerves of razzled celebrities. However, technology is not sacri ced on the altar of entertainment. e rear window is embraced by more than 450 illuminated louvres, which act as tail- and brake lights.
Philosophically speaking, the big question raised by such a prospect is: ‘Why do we want to travel at all?’ e Vision-V will o er such stupefying comfort and luxury that any incentive to go elsewhere is diminished to just above zero, if positive at all.
e French mathematician Pascal said that the majority of the world’s misery was caused by a man being unable to sit quietly alone in a room. What I am thinking on my run today is that the luxury van-limo will be the nal statement of all the myriad opportunities the beautiful and ingenious automobile once o ered. You might achieve a version of happiness si ing alone in your van and, with the ultimate in absurdity, there will be no need for it to move. Yet you might nd yourself wistfully dreaming of clutches, synchromesh and valves.
‘The big question raised by Mercedes’ Vision-V is why do we want to travel at all’
Robert Coucher
Moving with the times, yet still enjoying past glories
The car world is in a state of ux and it must be a buyers’ market out there. e state of play has evolved such that more modern classics are in demand.
Not that many years ago, classics of the 1950s and 1960s were all the rage among enthusiasts because run-of-the-mill cars of the early 1970s were largely not much cop, so they were unappreciated and scrapped. Naturally there were outliers such as the Lamborghini Countach, Porsche 911 Turbo, BMW CSL, Lancia Stratos and Ferrari 512BB, but most of the rest was porridge. Drivers enjoyed the purer experience of cars from the vintage era up to the late 1960s.
I think that cars became good again with the launch of the game-changing Golf GTI in 1975. Here was a daily driver with sharp looks, a robust, fuel-injected engine and a chassis that imparted kart-like handling. e hot hatch had been born and with that the world changed forever.
You have to hand it to the automotive industry, the pace of development has increased dramatically of late, o ering the sort of performance we’d never have dreamed of 30 years ago. Now cars are moving into the area of being virtual entertainment pods and soon will be driving themselves.
As the collector-car world moves along, it’s not surprising that more modern sporting cars appeal to younger drivers who have never experienced the joy of manual wind-up windows, non-synchromesh gearboxes, drum brakes and cross-ply tyres. But that’s the challenge: a totally unassisted driving connection between you and the car. A bit like riding a horse, in that it’s quite di cult and unreliable!
Older classic cars are unreliable only if they are not properly maintained, though. Cars in the 1950s and 1960s used to cover thousands of miles reliably as daily users without air-con or sat-nav. To be fair, most of us who regularly use classics have the bene t of specialists o ering developments that make them more pleasurable to drive in trying tra c conditions.
My Jaguar XK140 has a ra of improvements to keep it cool and make it lighter to drive, as well as much faster, with sharper handling and be er brakes, without altering its mechanical nature, which is what I so enjoy about it. Ride a horse? No thank you. Double-declutch on the way down through the gears? Yes please.
e modern classic LaFerrari, McLaren P1 and Porsche 718 now make up the Holy Trinity of collector hypercars, so their values have soared. e most expensive cars in the world, then? No, not by a long way – that honour is held by the 69-year-old Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé at an astronomical €135million. It doesn’t have airconditioning, electric windows or an automatic gearbox, and the brakes are a challenge. Go gure…
So while the more things change, the more they remain the same: rare, special, high-performance cars will always be in demand and so will appreciate in value. But the real di erence is the sort of interesting cars from Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, Bentley, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Jaguar and so on that can now be had at great prices. DB7s, Continental Rs, SLs and F-types o er comfort, luxury and performance without the need to spend a small fortune on some super-sophisticated and complicated hypercar.
And mentioning sophisticated complication, we feature hydropneumatic Citroëns from DS to C6 in this issue. I’ve always loved the DS and what car guy doesn’t: weird and wonderful, a spacecra , like the Holy Trinity but from an earlier era. Bizarrely, Citroën started building the DS in South Africa, where I grew up, as early as 1959. ey were CKD (complete, knocked down) kits in the same manner as the UK’s Slough-built cars, assembled, painted and trimmed to add local content.
ey always appeal to automotive eccentrics, a few of whom we knew. One mother in our school li club drove one and I’d try to bag a place in the front (room across for three children) on the big springy sofa of a chair, nished in that shot nylon in a mad red hue. e car would go through its slow elevation until the suspension was at the ideal height, then she’d twirl the strange single-spoke steering wheel and o we’d glide. Bringing the car to a smooth halt was a challenge she never really mastered because of the sensitive brake bu on that was in place of a conventional pedal. It was strange to see these advanced-looking vehicles bowling along unmade African dirt-roads in the 1960s. But not out of place at all – that wonderful suspension could handle the ruts with ease, so big, bearded farmers loved their Citroëns more than many stylish urban types in Paris or Nice. Prices remain steady…
‘I’ve always loved the DS and what car guy doesn’t: weird and wonderful, a spacecraft’
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PARTS SPECIALIST
Why miles bring smiles
READING THE HAGI value tracker for the mid-’90s Corvette ZR-1 in Octane 264 started me thinking: what’s the true value of a car, and what brings the most pleasure from owning it?
My own ZR-1 was built on 10 March 1995 and shipped to California, where it had a sticker price of $69,252. It was then transported to Amherst, Ohio, where it was purchased by a US serviceman for $59,001 on 15 February 1996. He arranged for the car to be shipped to Germany on 2 April 1996.
I bought it in January 2000 for £29,661 – around $36,000 – when it had delivery miles only on the clock. Since then it has been used constantly and now has covered almost 92,000 miles.
In 2003 I was invited to take part in the Parade des Pilotes for the Le Mans 24 hours and then to do club laps of the circuit before the race on Saturday. While waiting for the parade to start, I met Corvette racing ace Oliver Gavin, who signed the underside of my car’s bonnet. In 2011 I was invited back again and asked to take a French journalist as passenger. This time I gave the keys to my son. The
huge grin on his face when he came in at the end is a memory that will stay with both of us.
Since then my ZR-1 has been on many trips through Europe and regularly visits Le Mans for both the 24 Hours and the Classic. I have bloodied my hands replacing the clutch twice, along with the water pump and power steering pump, and cursed as I tried to get bolts into the aluminium engine without crossing the threads. Which brings me back to my original point. What would have given me the most pleasure? Had I not driven the car but kept it stored, it might be worth $60,000, perhaps. That would represent a profit of around $30,000, or roughly $1200 per year. As it is, my car could probably be valued at $35,000 – but with memories of people and places the car and I have been to, the bloodied hands and cursing to keep it on the road, and the prospect of destinations we have still to visit.
For me the answer is simple: miles bring smiles. For others, perhaps it’s the joy of ownership. Alan Lewis, Oxfordshire
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Gauntlett’s gesture
Your appreciation of Aston Martin boss Victor Gauntlett in Octane 264 reminded me of the late 1970s when, as a young boy, myself and a friend were cycling around our town of Midhurst in West Sussex and chanced upon the new Aston Martin Lagonda, registered ‘AML 1’, quietly hiding in plain sight beneath the leafy boughs of St Mary’s Church. It was quite the most extraordinary sight I had ever seen.
I cycled home to grab my camera and was delighted to find the Lagonda still there on my return. I took a number of photos before a distinguished gentleman approached, unlocked the car and invited my friend and me to sit in it. I was awestruck.
When I mentioned the incident to my mother, who taught French at a local prep school, she said: ‘Oh, that would have been Victor Gauntlett. I teach his son Michael.’ My mother kindly introduced us, and until recently I still had a few Pace Petroleum stickers that Michael gave me from a hillclimb his father had sponsored. Oliver Boulet, East Sussex
Towns’ car not for towns I enjoyed your various articles about the Aston Martin V8 in Octane 264. As the proud owner of a ‘bog-standard slush-box’ version [above] for 20-odd years, I can report that it is an ideal Continental tourer that attracts admirers and positive comments wherever we go. However, I can
also say with absolute certainty that, despite what Robert Coucher claims, it is definitely not a ‘superb town car’!
Chris Browes, Suffolk
French connection
To add to Peter Tomalin’s feature on the Alfa Romeo Giulia SS [above] in Octane 263, it is not widely known that Bertone’s styling influenced the shape of the roofline and rear screen of Jean Rédélé’s Alpine Berlinettes.
It seems that Rédélé was seduced by the roofline of the Sprint Speciale and borrowed one from a long-time customer on the pretext that he wanted to drive it. He took the Alfa to his Renault garage in Dieppe, where his staff quickly made a glassfibre female mould from the top of the car. However, they had overdone the catalyst and the mould ended up stuck to the roof.
They managed to force the moulding off using wooden wedges but some of the paint came away as well. Eventually the garage told the Alfa’s owner that they had accidentally upended a can of paint on the roof of his car and that they would totally repaint the vehicle at no cost, a proposal that he accepted.
The form of the roofline and the shape of the rear screen was then integrated onto the A108
Berlinette [below] to complete the lines that Jean Rédélé wanted. Those elements remained unchanged in essence during the A108’s lifetime and their influences were carried through to the A110 Berlinette.
Tim Moores, Hampshire
Gauging interest
I can’t be the only one annoyed that manufacturers are replacing their analogue dashboards with bland touchscreen tablets.
Apart from its looks, two things were unmistakable when identifying a car: its engine and its dashboard dials. We are slowly waving goodbye to ICEs and their unique instruments. Will analogue dials see a revival? I live in hope.
Adam Milne, Essex
It’s tempting to wonder whether very high-end brands such as Rolls-Royce may yet return to traditional mechanical instruments as a way to add exclusivity – rather like expensive watches – in this increasingly digital age. MD
Fake news
How right did Robert Coucher get it, referring to JLR’s recent claim that Sir William Lyons once said ‘A Jaguar should be a copy of nothing’, when he wrote in Octane 260 that ‘Ol’ Bill was actually an avid copier’!
Having consulted my own extensive Jaguar library, contacted major Jaguar authors, the Jaguar Heritage Trust and others, I have found no proof that Lyons ever made such a statement. The most likely source is a 1999 Jaguar marketing campaign that put forward the slogan.
Time for it to die a death.
John Elmgreen, Sydney, Australia
Baited by Bayley
Stephen Bayley in Octane 264: ‘The Heffernan-and-Greenley Aston Martin 550 Vantage [above right] looked like an obscenely overdeveloped muscle dressed in drenched sweats.’
Ouch! I am not sure whether I should defend our poor old Virage and Vantage or simply propose ‘driving gloves at dawn’ at Newport Pagnell. I wonder what Mr B thinks about modern Astons such as the Valkyrie that make our car look almost discreet.
I would accept that the Virage was underdeveloped in terms of design, because it was decided to skip building a full-size styling
model that would have offered the opportunity to properly surface and detail the car. The aero people also changed its aesthetics. The Vantage, however, was modelled full-size and I believe it to be at about the right level of refined brutishness.
The design period of the Virage and its derivatives was far from enjoyable due to lack of funds and facilities at Aston, and the attitude of some of the staff in those days. But the cars were vital to the continued existence of the firm until Ford was able to help out. This was due to Victor Gauntlett, who was an inspiring team leader, and the deep pockets of the Livanos brothers who helped keep the company afloat until the rescue came along.
The older V8s, wonderful though they were, had stopped selling by that point, and when Victor Gauntlett first viewed the Vantage at a 6.30am meeting he declared ‘Now that’s an Aston’. John Heffernan, Surrey
Agent provocateur?
Following on from your feature about the Bugatti Type 35B in Octane 263, I’ve often thought that someone with the time and ability could build an EV Type 35. A good-size battery under the bonnet, motor in the tail to drive the rear wheels, charging point behind a fake horseshoe radiator, hydraulic brakes, seatbelts. A purring exhaust sound made by mechanical means, and body finished in blue or even red. Something for sport or leisure. I hope this inspires someone. Vince Leonard, Bedford
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SAM CHICK
An comprehensively chronicled Ferrari F50 with just 4,200 km. Accompanied by its flight case, roll hoops, open configuration roof panel and tool kit.
A Cat, Non-Adjust F40. Major recommission service in 2021 to tune of £53,890. Just 19,750 km from new and available immediately.
Providing the Complete Service
At DK
SHADOWS OUT OF THE
As the Ferrari F50 hits a significant anniversary, James Ellio pits the Fanny Mendelssohn of motoring against its Felix
Photography Sam Chick
The Ferrari F50 is 30. Yet even today it is apparently impossible to judge it other than in the context of the F40. For this story we started planning with only the F50 in mind and then garnished it with an F40 – mainly because we could, but also because it just felt natural. So, as the F40 elbows its way to the table and blows out the candles on the F50’s birthday cake, yet again, I too plead guilty to smothering the F50’s long-sought right to independence. This state of affairs feels pretty unfair on the F50 (every Jaguar XJ-S nods sagely in sympathy), but does anything better illustrate its neglected place in the classic firmament?
To understand how we got here, we must first understand the car and the circumstances that cast such a huge and dense shadow. Launched in the midst of the 1980s supercar arms race, Pininfarina’s set-square F40 – named for the 40th anniversary of the Maranello company and famously il Commendatore’s last car –was peak analogue. It was a statement of intent, a declaration of war. No nostalgic V12 resonance or discretion; instead, it followed the format of the preceding, considerably more trad-Ferrarilooking 288 GTO, with a whopping 2.9-litre V8 boosted by a pair of IHI turbos from Japan.
Maranello had created a monster. With a declared top speed of 201mph, and a price tag just shy of £1000 for each of those mph, Ferrari ended up quadrupling the original intended production of 300-odd cars and, when the F40’s five-year lifespan came to an end, some 1311 had been manufactured. All in red with red interior, all left-hand-drive bar six Middle East special orders.
Enzo Ferrari lived to see his final flagship launched on 21 July 1987, but died just over a year later. This didn’t exactly leave the company rudderless – how could it be, with talent like Nicola Materazzi on board? – but by 1991 Luca de Montezemolo had been parachuted in to take over the helm at Gianni Agnelli’s personal behest. So with Enzo gone, a new guy – one with a background in yachting, football administration, vermouth and racing, no less – taking the reins and Fiat upping its stake in Ferrari to 90%, just try to imagine the intense scrutiny the next halo car would be subjected to, even within the factory, let alone beyond.
It didn’t go well. When the F50 broke cover at Geneva in 1995 (349 cars would go on to be built over the next two years) it was roasted for its looks (also by Pininfarina), its weight (130kg heavier than the F40), and most heinously its lack of either the raw emotion or raw pace with which the wild F40 had won so many hearts. The motoring world had demanded a thrashing speed-
demon to belittle 1992’s McLaren F1 upstart just as it perceived the F40 to have humbled the Porsche 959 in 1987, but Ferrari had gone in a very different direction. Ferrari had grown up.
It’s tough on a car that, powered by a naturally aspirated 4.7-litre V12, would get to 60mph from standstill in 3.7sec (against the F40’s 4.1) and canter on to a top speed of over 200mph, but the die was cast and, 30 years on, the majority of the motoring world still views the F40 as one the greatest cars ever built and its successor as a dismal dud. And up until now, up until we put these cars back to back and I drove them both, while studiously ignoring the relative progression of values that suggests that the people actually buying them think far more highly of the F50 than the noisier sideline commentators, I tended to agree with them.
Conveniently, this pair actually share the same discreet owner, who (as a guide to his impeccable taste) also has a 288 GTO, Lusso, LaFerrari, Enzo, Daytona SP3 and 812 Competizione Aperta.
‘WITH ENZO GONE, IMAGINE THE INTENSE SCRUTINY THE NEXT HALO CAR WOULD BE SUBJECTED TO’
Suspension Front and rear: double wishbones, coil springs, telescopic dampers, anti-roll bar
Brakes Vented discs Weight 1100kg
Top speed 201mph 0-62mph 4.1sec
This page and opposite Race-bred yet never intended to race, the F40 is a stunning example of Ferrari purity: ultralightweight and matchingly visceral to drive.
He has stored these cars for nearly a decade with V Management in Berkshire and they have comfortably fewer than 40,000 miles under their belts between them. So, two notoriously highly strung Ferraris with next to no miles in long-term storage and barely driven for ten years? Chris Bucknall of V Management swiftly reassures me that they get proper warm-ups every few weeks and are good to go.
Putting them side by side is telling, makes you wonder why they were ever compared to each other in the first place. Just three years separated the end of F40 production and the start of F50, yet they are aeons apart in every way. The complete change of ethos in such a short time is remarkable: twin-turbo V8 (simultaneously the least and yet most Ferrari thing ever) versus more traditional V12; entirely analogue versus nascent digital; every line that is straight on one is curved on the other; a road car that will turn heads on the track versus a race car that snaps them round on the road.
Inside it is the same story: harnesses versus seatbelts; racing seats versus buckets; no space for anything behind the seats versus
luggage straps; dogleg first versus conventional H-pattern box; a rear-view of the road neatly framed on one kidney-shaped mirror by wing and engine cover versus a view principally of a thick black brace bar, a lot of Perspex, and heat-haze. On looks alone it is easy to understand their relative reputations. The F40 is a menacing but beautiful wedge, whereas, well, something hasn’t quite gone right with the F50, and it is awkward and gawky where both bonnet and roofline meet screen.
F40 first. This car, which made its way to the UK in 2010, was supplied new to Italy in September ’92 and was immediately dispatched to Michelotto for upgrades including adjustable sport suspension, LM brakes, lightweight bonnet, power boost, sports exhaust, racing harness and OZ racing wheels. Those aspects aren’t the difference between the two cars, but they both enhance it and emphasise their very distinct personalities.
Thin paint means visible weave on the 11 carbon/Kevlar panels that shroud what is in essence a 288 GTO tubular chassis, but that only adds to the visual intensity of the first 200mph production car.
‘THE
COMPLETE CHANGE OF ETHOS IN
Inside, as out and also underneath, it could not get any less sophisticated or basic. Sliding window, pull-string door, huge drilled pedals, exposed carbon on the inner door, no assistance for anything, big old Veglia dials (seven of them), seats that grip the shoulders rather than the trunk, signs of lightening everywhere.
Drop yourself in over the ascending oxer of sillwork and it’s as comfortable as anything with full racing harnesses can be. It’s pretty spartan, so it doesn’t take long to drink it all in before you are ready for the off and soon the unmistakable Gatling gun blare of the flat-plane-crank V8 is busying itself behind you, idling with urgency until dropping off with a bit of heat inside it.
It is surprisingly docile to get off the line, and the gearshift, once warm, is more supportive than obstructive. As with all Ferraris of the era, the lever demands a strong hand, but once into rhythm it is sublime.
The day is dry and warm and the road relatively straight, though peppered with roundabouts, so we experience only a fraction of what the F40 can do, for better or for worse. Being spared the fear
of its wayward reputation allows you better to enjoy the intoxicating thrills and hard, road-hugging ride as it spears along, meaty throttle teased around the 3500rpm that will light up the turbos.
Good lord, it is mainlining bliss when they kick in, the 335/35 ZR17s yelping and thrusting and hurling you towards the horizon on a tsunami of torque. Even so, the delivery is nowhere near as savage as legend (and damp roads) might have it, considering its sylphlike weight and 470bhp. It is a relatively small power window, though, and by 7000rpm the son-et-lumière is tailing off.
The fluid, super-direct, power-free steering, unservoed four-pot brakes and heavy throttle come alive to complement the razorsharp handling only as you press on, but can be pretty moribund when you are pootling. It’s quieter than expected, too. With a hard ride and a road-hugging ride height there are crashes, rattles and bangs over bad roads but you can easily maintain a conversation by speaking loudly rather than shouting. Yet why would you want to when you can crank up the 2.9 litres of ferocious dual-overheadcam, forced-induction fury and get stoned on its wailing?
SUCH A SHORT TIME IS REMARKABLE’
So far so clichéd but, where the animalistic F40 is close to being domesticated, the F50 is civility itself. The visible carbonfibre weave everywhere is by design an aesthetic embellishment rather than the result of weight-saving via fewer coats of Rosso. The interior glow-up means there is a quilted headlining, and air-con knobs feature in the centre of the dashboard, for heaven’s sake.
Ferrari itself boasted that the F40 was a machine, not a laboratory, but it clearly had a rethink for the F50. Employing a carbon tub cradling an engine derived from its first post-turbo F1 motor and driving through a six-speed transaxle, neither was its sophistication merely skin-deep. Much was made about the motor’s F1 roots, and even more now, as if it is the car’s only saving grace, but having only 60% of the rev range, an extra two litres and no pneumatic valves it really wasn’t that similar. That’s not to say it wasn’t impressive.
This F50 was UK-delivered to Maranello Egham in March ’96 and is showing just under 15,000 miles (or kilometres, it does not deign to specify) on its fancypants digital display. Such modernity
is deceiving; this car is still gloriously analogue otherwise. The windows wind up, but, like the door-pull, they’re still a step up from the F40’s. It has a push starter, just like the F40, and a similarly angled driving position, left to right, pointing towards the pronounced nose of the car. Even at idle the V12 is less raucous than the F40’s V8 and everything in the F50 feels lighter, more responsive, more immediate. Especially at lower speeds.
The six-speed ’box – used to support the suspension; now that’s motorsport tech – is unmistakably Ferrari, but naturally in H-pattern format rather than with a dogleg first and far more userfriendly, with cleaner, smoother action and heavy (perhaps a fraction too heavy) spring-loading towards the central plane. The clutch is a touch lighter in action, and neither is hefty enough in operation to distract you from the fun and games. You only realise the workout you’ve put your left leg through when you decamp to a modern hatchback and the clutch pedal is so light you think it must have lost all hydraulics.
Right and above
A naturally aspirated V12 this time, in place of a twin-turbo V8, yet this one started life in F1 and acts as a structural member; sparse inside, but more usable and less compromised than F40.
1996 Ferrari F50
Engine 4699cc mid-mounted V12, DOHC per bank, 60 valves, Bosch Motronic engine management Power 520bhp @ 8500rpm Torque 347lb ft @ 6500rpm Transmission Six-speed manual transaxle, rear-wheel drive Steering Rack and pinion Suspension Front and rear: double wishbones, inboard coil spring/damper units with pushrods and rocker arms, variable electronic dampers, anti-roll bar Brakes Vented discs Weight 1230kg Top speed 202mph 0-62mph 3.7sec
The steering, again non-assisted and via a tiny wheel, is wonderful, and the engine is magical in its own way. It has neither the brawny low-down torque of the V8 nor quite the same theatre, but its relentless yet steady accumulation of pace is like a World War Two air raid siren winding up. It does not result in quite the same heart-in-mouth moment every time you boot the throttle but it is a really classy bit of kit, and when it’s higher in the rev range, in sectors the F40 cannot reach, it really gets busy. At high revs the sound is heavenly, as cultured as the F40’s is yobbish.
Similarly, the handling is as benign as the F40’s is lairy, the balance perfection and the ride supple, while everything that requires positive, hefty inputs on the F40 is compliant; eager, even. You do feel the extra weight on the road, and that blunts the sensations, too, but it is spacious for a supercar and packs comfy, low-set seats that offer loads of lateral grip all along your flanks. Nothing with such levels of performance has been so easy to drive, and to drive quickly, and that is the F50’s superpower.
You could easily imagine effortlessly crossing France in this car. In fact, thanks to the quality of roads over the Channel, you could in either car, but one of them you would fall out of on arrival, buzzing but physically and emotionally drained, while you would step out of the other and glide straight to the cocktail bar.
Traditionally, journalists and racing drivers adore the F40 above
all else while collectors quietly stoke the embers of the F50 market so it stays roughly parallel (see page 61). In fact, the desirability of the F50 may seem a mystery to anyone who reads motoring magazines but there is a very simple explanation: journalists and racing drivers experience these cars in a moment, whereas owners and collectors have to live with them for years, even decades. Their perspectives are vastly different, one fuelled entirely by instant gratification and spur-of-the-moment emotion, the other a little more measured and pragmatic.
So, much to my own surprise, I am going to break ranks. The F40 delivers exactly what I expected, hardcore thrills in spades, and the spinetingling cocktail of whoosh and yowl will live with me forever, but no car has ever confounded my expectations as much as the F50, the best-driving analogue supercar of the lot.
With hindsight, I suspect that when we added the F40 in this story it was subconsciously to illustrate what the F50 is lacking, but instead it just emphasises how truly complete it is. How they have made something so powerful and exotic so driveable and so friendly is truly one of the wonders of the supercar world. Over 30 years the F50 has become a more impressive engineering achievement than the F40 in every way… except to look at.
THANKS TO V Management, v-management.com.
THE FERRARI BLOODLINE
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THE ‘WHAT IF’ VERSIONS
ough the F40 and F50 were resolutely developed as road cars, there were also racing plans
Matthew Hayward
THOUGH FER RI’S halo models might feel like road-legal racing cars, the motorsport links have not always been the most tangible.
e lineage here starts with the 288 GTO, designed from the outset for Group B homologation, but the series that would have seen it go head-to-head with Porsche’s 959 on track never materialised, sadly.
A single 288 Evoluzione was constructed before the o cial cancellation of the series, with a further four built by Ferrari racing partner Michelo o. And in e ect, those four
cars acted as a testbed for the use of lightweight materials in the upcoming F40.
While the F40 wasn’t built with motorsport in mind, its carbon-Kevlar construction was taken straight from the racetrack and it slo ed into the racing world with very li le trouble.
anks to the close relationship with Ferrari, Michelo o was actively involved with the F40’s development and, as a result, built its own track-focused model. Christened the LM, it saw Ferrari return to GT racing in 1989. With some promising results in the IMSA GT
Clockwise, from above F50’s engine was developed to power the long-lived 333SP; F40 LM proved the race-bred F40 could compete; F50 GT was sadly no more than a prototype.
racing series, the LM (and its more powerful Competizione replacement) continued racing well into the 1990s, even taking on Le Mans in 1995 and ’96 in privateer hands.
e F50’s part in motorsport was also less than clear-cut, though Ferrari boasted that it was as close to a road-legal F1 car as money could buy: its V12 engine could trace its roots back to the 3.5-litre unit that powered the 641 F1 car to six wins in 1990. ere was, however, a far closer motorsport connection in the form of the open-cockpit 1993 333SP racer. Ferrari
MATT HOWELL
‘The F50 GT’s engine was tuned to unleash more than 750bhp’
had not been interested officially in sports prototype racing cars since the early 1970s, instead dedicating its efforts to F1, yet Momo founder Gianpiero Moretti convinced the company to develop an entry for the IMSA’s new WSC series.
The resultant 333SP was a real skunkworks affair that saw much design and development work carried out by Dallara and Michelotto. IMSA rules stipulated production-based engines but, attracted by the potential draw of a V12 Ferrari racer in the series, special exemption was granted to allow Ferrari’s upcoming F50 engine, despite its thinly veiled racing origins. With swept volume reduced to 4.0 litres, the individual cylinder displacement of 333.09cc gave the new racer its name.
Boss Luca di Montezemolo insisted that the car would not race as an official works Ferrari entry and could only be run by privateer teams. Even without official factory support it picked up several victories throughout 1994, boasted outright victory in the 1995 12 Hours of Sebring, and went on to win that year’s IMSA WSC championship.
It raced (unsuccessfully) alongside those F40 LMs at Le Mans in 1995 but, whereas most racing cars disappear without a trace, the 333SP continued to compete successfully –mostly in the USA – right through to 2001. It racked up 47 wins and 12 major championships.
Ferrari had grander motorsport plans for the F50, which was to be homologated as a fixedroof GT1 racer (in the vein of the Mercedes CLK GTR and 911 GT1) and built by Dallara and Michelotto. The prototype F50 GT featured more aggressive aerodynamics, adjustable suspension, lightweight Speedline racing wheels, a noticeably larger pair of bonnet snouts and a roof scoop. The engine was tuned to unleash more than 750bhp, with a higher 10,500rpm rev limit, driving the wheels through a six-speed sequential gearbox. Officially the programme was cancelled due to Ferrari’s focus on F1, though rumour has it there were reservations about going up against the more extreme 911 GT1, which bore little resemblance to a road car. It might well be one of the greatest cars that never raced.
HOW THE F50 OUTPERFORMED ITS COHORTS
Hagerty’s John Mayhead on the Ferrari F50’s market performance
The success of the Ferrari F40 left huge boots to fill for the company’s 50th anniversary model, released in 1995 and designated the F50. That high bar was raised by McLaren, which released its groundbreaking F1 in 1992, and Maranello’s aim was to create the most advanced sports car on the market.
Ferrari started with an extraordinary engine: a naturally aspirated 4.7-litre V12 developed from the 1990-season Formula 1 F641 powerpack that was bolted straight into a carbonfibre tub as a stressed member. Ferrari used its F1 legends Nikki Lauda and Gerhard Berger to develop the car at its Fiorano track, pushing it to its limits.
Externally, where the F40 had been angular and angry, the F50 was curvy and cool, the bonnet a clear nod to its Formula 1 DNA. Inside, the cockpit was sparse and simple and there were intentionally very few driver aids: electronic damping was included but there was no power steering, ABS or traction control.
Launched at the March 1995 Geneva Salon, the car wasn’t received with the enthusiasm that Ferrari had clearly hoped for. It seemed overshadowed in almost every way by its rival from Woking: the F50 was half a second slower to 62mph than the F1, had a 35mph lower top speed, and over three times as many were being made. Plus, some said, it looked odd: the headlamps and huge bonnet scoops were very bold for the era, and the side profile seemed to flatten in the mid-section.
The F50 was never exactly unpopular, but it wasn’t the star in the group that later became known as Ferrari’s halo cars: the 288 GTO, F40, F50, Enzo and LaFerrari. In September 2015, it was the least valuable model in this group with a US Hagerty Price Guide ‘excellent’ value of $1.4m (£921,000) and its value rose gradually until May 2021, when an equivalent car was
valued at $2.1m (£1.5m). Then, similar to many other models post-lockdown, prices soared: by April 2023 prices peaked at $4.73m (£3.9m), but unlike many other models they’ve not slipped back by much, with the current Hagerty value sitting at $4.6m (£3.5m). Auction results have also been fascinating: from 2008 until May 2021, only three examples had sold for $3m or more. Since then, there have been no public auction sales under $3.3m.
This change in public perception of the F50 should be seen in context. In 1995, the year of its release, Ferrari just wasn’t the company we know today. Jean Alesi’s win in the Canadian Grand Prix was Ferrari’s lone F1 victory in a season marred by unreliability. This was before the Schumacher years of dominance, before the explosion of the Ferrari brand into the behemoth it’s become in recent years.
Time has been kind to it, too: the body design has aged very well, and the interior, with its gated six-speed manual, retains an air of elegance that is sometimes missing in more modern Ferraris. The lack of driver aids, once a negative, now provides a graphic contrast to the electric drive-by-wire supercars of today, and the small production number (around a quarter of the number of F40s) means they remain rare.
The result is that demand for the very best examples has soared, especially as owning the entire halo group now seems to be the ultimate Ferrari collector’s goal – and the F50 is certainly that. According to Hagerty’s insurance records worldwide, two-thirds of F50 owners own at least one other halo Ferrari, more than any other model in the group.
At this level, it’s a very big boy’s sport, with those able to play relatively unaffected by the financial turmoil that’s going on in the world. For that reason, their prospects remain strong.
F40 OR F50? AN OWNER DECIDES
Which is best? Karim Said has long-term experience with both
Words Mark Dixon Main image Jamie Lipman Portrait Jim Lincoln
‘AFTER I BOUGHT the F40, I didn’t have another car for many years. I put much of what I had into that car. I was living in a small apartment and stored it in a council lock-up; I certainly couldn’t have afforded any really large bills. But I used it daily, I’d go shopping to Tesco in it, I drove it hard on trips to Europe, and I never had any major issues.’
Karim racked up about 13,000km in his F40 during the early 2000s and he kept it for nearly 20 years. Along the way he also acquired a 288 GTO, an Enzo and a couple of F50s. But it’s telling that F50s are the only kind of Ferrari he now owns. In fact, he likes them so much, he has four.
‘I overlapped ownership of the F40 with an F50 for eight or nine years,’ he continues. ‘Each one has its own magic but I really felt the difference. The first time most people ride in an F50, they can’t believe how easy and comfortable it is; because it isn’t turbocharged, the power delivery is very linear. The F40 is more shocking and has what I call the “jerk effect” when the turbos suddenly kick in. It’s also less comfortable over long distances, because the seats don’t recline and headroom is limited for a tall driver.
‘With the factory exhaust the F40 is actually a relatively quiet car, and therefore maybe 80% were fitted with a sports exhaust to give a more explosive sound – but the F50’s V12 produces its mechanical symphony
within the engine itself, from the drive-chains and valves, and its higher rev limit means it really howls. You also feel it as much as hear it, since it’s bolted directly to the tub.’ Neither car need be particularly expensive to run, claims Karim. The biggest expense is changing the fuel bladders at the recommended ten-year intervals, which could cost £15,000 or more, so some owners fit aluminium tanks instead. But if you want your F40 or F50 to be Ferrari Classiche certified, then it has to be kept original. With an F50, Ferrari Classiche demands it will have to retain a factory exhaust that was made in period, but, since only 349 cars were built, Ferrari doesn’t yet offer remanufactured ones. The irony is that many exhausts were ditched early on for those sportier aftermarket ones – which means a complete original set-up could cost £130,000.
‘The F50 also dates from the sweet-spot before cars were overloaded with driver aids and electronics,’ adds Karim, ‘but the F40 is so much more old-fashioned, despite them being just eight years apart. Financially, I did very well with the F40 – it appreciated in value about eight times as much as I paid for it – but my first F50 has outperformed even that. If I could keep only one car, it would be an F50. But I’ll try to postpone that day for as long as possible!’
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THE MASERATI FOR LEARNER DRIVERS
This remarkably well-preserved 1956 Maserati 200 S starred with Toulo de Graffenried on the track before a career at Scuderia Centro Sud’s racing school. Massimo Delbò charts its extraordinary history
Photography Max Serra
Would you buy a classic racer if it wasn’t perfect, maybe missing a few parts, with a body sporting the odd light dent, looking a bit grimy here and there? If your answer is no, well, you just missed the opportunity to buy one of the most original racing Maseratis in history, the 1956 200 S, chassis number 2403.
The fact that it has been hidden away from public view for nearly 30 years simply adds to the mystical status of this car. But don’t think of it as some kind of suspect barn-find, or a pile of pieces in some remote outpost. This car spent its days in a dry, dark, protected environment on the outskirts of Turin, garaged with other cars, all owned by the same passionate guy who was too busy at work and raising a family to spend time with his beloved collection.
But now we must take a step back to the 1950s, when Maserati, owned by the Orsi family, was one of the world’s most exclusive sporting marques. It introduced the 150 S in 1955, equipped with a four-cylinder 1.5-litre engine. From January 1956, a new streamlined barchetta body, nicknamed ‘codine’ (‘fintail’), was introduced with 150 S chassis numbers beginning with 1651, while the 2.0-litre 200 S version began with 2401. Some of the early 2.0-litres were equipped with a rear solid axle, before moving to a de Dion set-up. Among the latter was chassis number 2403, completed on 21 June 1956, paired with engine 2403 and a four-speed gearbox, on a type 150 S chassis manufactured by Gilco in Milan, and equipped with a Sport body, built by Fiandri & Malagoli and painted in Rosso Corsa.
It’s worth remembering that the Sport bodies were manufactured by two concerns: the famous Carrozzeria Fantuzzi, which built them for the works cars in a dedicated building within the Maserati factory, and the Fiandri & Malagoli bodyshop, founded and run by two ex-Fantuzzi employees, usually providing bodies for gentleman drivers and private customers. The work of the two shops looked strikingly similar, with only minor differences.
After spending the 1955 season behind the wheel of a Ferrari 750 Monza, Swiss gentleman driver André Canonica, from Geneva, ordered a Maserati. Just three days after its delivery, 200 S number 2403 made its racing debut at the fourth GP Supercortemaggiore 1000 Kilometres, at Monza, flying the Scuderia Centro Sud colours, with racing number 20. It was driven by Canonica and Baron Emmanuel ‘Toulo’ de Graffenried. Their race lasted only 17 laps, as the new 200 S was forced to retire with a broken gearbox. The car was supposed to enter the 12 Hours at Reims on 30 June but failed to show, most likely still in Modena having the gearbox repaired.
Its next outing was the Ollon-Villars hillclimb in Switzerland, on 24-25 August. The car was fresh from Maserati: there is an invoice as evidence of the work done, which included revised ratios for the gearbox, not surprising considering the differences between the Monza high-speed track and a mountain road. It was driven by Canonica during the Saturday session and by de Graffenried on the Sunday. It was unusual for the drivers to share responsibilities in this way but, as it was a home race for both of them, organisers allowed the unorthodox split. Even more unusually, both were the fastest in their stints, and they finished 1-2 in the final classification, with de Graffenried the fastest of all in the 1.5-2.0-litre class.
On 21 October, chassis 2403 was racing in the Rome Grand Prix, a six-hour race held in Castelfusano. Still sporting the Scuderia Centro Sud colours, it was driven by American Harry Schell and finished an excellent second overall. The car was sporting quite
Opposite
Shortly before it was bought by Scuderia Centro Sud in 1957, chassis 2403 was rebodied in curvaceous style; it wears the same body to this day.
‘THE FACT THAT IT HAS BEEN HIDDEN AWAY FOR NEARLY 30 YEARS SIMPLY ADDS TO THE MYSTICAL STATUS OF THIS CAR’
1956 Maserati 200 S
Engine 1993cc DOHC four-cylinder, two double-barrel Weber 45 DCO3 carburettors (now 42 DCOE6) Power 190bhp @ 7200rpm
Transmission Four-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Steering Rack and pinion Suspension Front: double wishbones, coil springs, Houdaille hydraulic dampers. Rear: de Dion axle, coil springs, Houdaille hydraulic dampers Brakes Drums Weight 660kg Top speed 163mph
Opposite, top
While 2403 is mechanically almost stock, period replacements include the steering wheel, some instruments and the seat covers, the result of a hard life in a racing school.
a visible modification, with a headrest as invoiced to Canonica by the Medardo Fantuzzi bodyshop. This was the car’s last known outing in 1956. It reappeared in June 1957 wearing a different body, more streamlined and rounded, manufactured by Medardo Fantuzzi and made available from mid-1956.
That September, chassis 2403 was sold by Canonica to the racing team Scuderia Centro Sud. Founded in Rome in 1955 by Guglielmo ‘Mimmo’ Dei, the exclusive dealer for Maserati in Italy, the Scuderia sought to bring motor racing to the centre and south of Italy and to provide its gentlemen drivers with competitive cars, technical assistance and a racing school. It was the first in Italy, active in Vallelunga, Modena and (in later years) Monza. In November 1957 it officially opened with a ceremony at Vallelunga, and the first car made available to the students was the 200 S, chassis 2403. Here it began its second life, which would shape its future even more markedly than its success as a pure racing car.
On 1 December 1957, Giorgio Scarlatti and Guido Cabianca drove 2403 to second overall at the 6 Hours Automobilistiche, the first race held on the renewed Vallelunga track. The following year it appeared in the 1000 Kilometres of Buenos Aires for the Scuderia Madunina of Milan, though wearing the colours of Scuderia Centro Sud. The patron of the Scuderia Madunina was Juan Manuel Fangio’s manager, Marcello Giambertone, who organised the race. Back in Europe, 2403 finished second in the Grand Prix of Pergusa, in Sicily, with driver Giorgio Scarlatti achieving the fastest lap at an average speed of 181.206km/h (113.2mph), and who likely would have won were it not for a tyre problem very near the finish.
The well-used 200 S was campaigned extensively by several young drivers for the Scuderia Centro Sud team in the 1959 season, joined by a largely identical Maserati 200 S with serial and engine number 2409. Towards the end of that year the Scuderia organised a training session on the Aerautodromo di Modena, listing the availability of three Maserati 250Fs, two 300 Ss, three 2000 Sport four-cylinders (or 200 S), a 2000 Sport six-cylinder (A6 GCS/53), an Osca 1500 Sport, Ermini 1100 Sport and Fiat-Zagato 750 Sport. The intense life of 2403 continued in racing and training, its competition career ending with the Targa Florio of April 1961 and the school activity finishing in 1967. Some of the students went on to racing stardom.
In period pictures it is possible to see some modifications that appeared during that time, including a new nose (most likely reshaped after a small accident), a new steering wheel, instruments and so on. They are the sort of alterations that reflect the hard life of a racing school car, often abused and run on a budget. Pictures of the racing school reveal a workshop with engines on benches and spare parts all over the place, and it is most likely that during some work carried out here the engine originally in 2403 was swapped for that from 2409, which is still in the engine bay though with some of the original internals from 2403.
It’s not known whether the swap happened by mistake, due to technical necessity or simply because nobody noticed, but what we do know is that, in 1967-68, the 200 S number 2409 was sold to Andrea Fabbris, while on 25 July 1968, 2403 (equipped with engine number 2409, as is recorded in the notarised deed of sale signed by Mimmo Dei) was sold with some other cars to Guido and Franco Artom, among the most active collectors in Italy at that time.
The Artoms then stored the car in a warehouse, still wearing the grime of its last track outing, until February 1977, when the current custodian, Alfredo Stola, spent a day out with his father Francesco. ‘We went to visit the Artoms, family friends who shared the same passion my father had for classic cars,’ says Stola. ‘We were there as my father wanted to buy their 1925 Fiat 519, but we spent some time looking at their amazing selection of cars. My dad asked me – I was still a teenager! – which car I would most love to have and I replied
that I liked the Maserati 200 S. And, suddenly in the contract of sale, the Maserati joined the Fiat. It would look crazy by today’s standards but back then the classic car world was a small community, and prices were very different indeed. The 850,000 Italian Lire my dad paid for both cars was 100,000 Lire less than the price of a new Fiat 127. You can now buy a new Panda for €16,000, so you could estimate that purchase as having a total value of about €15,000 in today’s money.’
The car was not registered, remaining in storage for some time. And then: ‘In June 1980 I entered the Maserati meeting in Modena, and to get the car running it had a full service. I made a mistake: the fuel pump was out of order and I replaced it with a newer one, losing the original casing. I regret that to this day, as it is the only non-period part in the car.’
After the meeting the car went back to the warehouse and would leave again only in 1982 for an event in Salò. ‘This scarce and private use over 32 years meant the memory of the Maserati in my ownership was almost lost to history,’ says Stola.
But then he called Adolfo Orsi, car historian and a direct descendant of the family that owned the Maserati company from 1937 to 1968, asking for information about his car. Orsi says: ‘When I checked, I discovered that there was one around that claimed to
have the same chassis number and was taking part in several events. So I started to do a full research and soon it became evident which was the good one. When I first saw Stola’s car, I knew immediately that his was, without a doubt, the original one.’
Indeed, a certain individual, unaware of the continued existence of this car, had built a ‘200 S’ using its supposedly lost chassis number, managed to gain FIVA homologation and used it in several events. That homologation was withdrawn in 2022.
Orsi has spent several years researching chassis 2403 and put together a definitive file of consistent information, often paired with period pictures as further evidence. ‘It is among the most original cars I’ve ever seen,’ he says, ‘with a well-lived chassis that still sports several parts in the original Argento Porpora paint used by Maserati, and the original suspension, de Dion axle, brakes and steering arms. I could go on forever, as almost every screw of this car is original.
‘There are some modifications compared to when it left Viale Ciro Menotti for the first time, but all were done in period and appear in pictures taken at different times, such as the carburettors, now Weber 42 DCOE6s made after 1960, trumpets of chromed steel instead of alloy, and small handles from a Fantuzzi body and some air vents added to the body around 1961, when the Plexiglass of the cockpit had already gone, as had the rear-view mirror.
‘The steering wheel is most likely from an English car, maybe one of the Coopers at the racing school, and the rev-counter and oil pressure gauges have been replaced, as has the gearknob. The seat facings could have been changed and the cover of the gearbox tunnel is not original, but these are small details that have been in the car for more than 50 years. Would you replace them, even if with correct units, and so erase part of its history, or would you leave them as they are? Mr Stola decided on the second option to preserve the car for posterity.’
Indeed, the Maserati 200 S number 2403 was certified by Maserati Classiche in 2022 with the Certificato di Autenticità Storica and it won Best of Show at the Salvarola concours in Italy in May 2024, paving the way for a year of ‘preservation class’ cars capable of winning the most noted international events, not least the Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Figoni Spider at Villa d’Este and the Bugatti Type 59 Sports at Pebble Beach. Yes, this is clearly a car of that level of importance.
THANKS TO Adolfo Orsi.
Left and bottom left Piero Drogo behind the wheel of chassis 2403 during a private test at Aerautodromo, Modena, in August 1959; post-retirement during its time with the Artom family.
SPITZLEY / ZAGARI ARCHIVE
SUSPENSI
SUSPENSI O N OF DISBELIEF
It’s 70 years since Citroën’s long-awaited ‘Voiture à Grande Diffusion’ debuted an innovative suspension system – setting a standard for the three generations that followed
Words Daniel Bevis Photography GF Williams
Received wisdom tells us that French executive cars don’t sell. Yet for 57 years Citroën pulled off a remarkable trick, in which it presented deliberately odd cars to an unsuspecting market – weird cars for ordinary people. And once this weirdness is in your bloodstream, it never leaves.
This weirdness is otherwise known as liquide hydraulique minérale, a cartoonish green goo that makes the fabled magic carpet ride possible, coursing through the veins of Citroën’s innovative hydropneumatic suspension systems. It was publicly trialled in 1954 on the back end of the Traction Avant, and was so far ahead of its time that in 1985 a press release for the CX Series 2 said: ‘If such a system were announced for the first time today, it would undoubtedly be heralded as setting new technical standards.’
The myriad legends surrounding it tell you all you need to know: it saved Charles de Gaulle from assassination, it smoothed out France’s pockmarked post-war road network, it was so good that Rolls-Royce licensed it for
the Silver Shadow. And while it found homes in the luxe SM and less-luxe GS, BX, Xsara and C5, the natural home for hydropneumatic suspension was in the full-size DS, CX, XM and C6 saloons. So join us for a supremely relaxing ride through all four generations.
REMIND YOURSELF that 2025 marks the 70th anniversary of the DS and you might need to mentally recalibrate. Just imagine you’re walking down a street in Bootle or Bognor in 1955, minding your own business as a miasma of Standard Eights and sit-up-andbeg Anglias chug by, and then you see photos of the Citroën DS on the newsstand: an actual real-life spaceship landing in Paris. It must have been staggering. How can such a deliciously sylph-like form be a means of conveyance for ordinary people? Not a single iota of that impact has been lost as the DS celebrates its platinum jubilee.
You don’t need us to point out that DS is pronounced ‘Déesse’, meaning ‘goddess’, and this wholly appropriate moniker is emblematic of its enduring appeal. This was not a car designed by conventional means. Flaminio Bertoni’s early sketches may have been earned
it the l’hippopotame nickname, but the evolution of the concept smoothed out the lines of the Traction Avant like a pebble in a stream. Under the watchful eye of Citroën chairman Pierre-Jules Boulanger, with the engineering nous of André Lefèbvre and the wildcard of Paul Magès’ hydropneumatic suspension, the result was every bit as spaceship-like as the casual observer on the street might imagine.
Boulanger was insistent that no conceptual stone would be left unturned in the development of the Voiture à Grande Diffusion, and this transpired to be his legacy: in November 1950, while driving a Traction Avant with an experimental drivetrain, he was killed when the car veered off the road and hit a tree. Bloodied but unbowed, Lefèbvre and his elite squad pressed on with bringing it to fruition, its express comfort defined by Magès’ obsessive pursuit of load-sensing witchcraft and experimental hydraulic mischief. Early engine formulae included an air-cooled flat-six, but budget constraints meant the Traction Avant’s four-pot was revised and carried over. By the autumn of 1954 the VGD was signed off: the dreamy DS was ready to meet its public.
‘THE RIDE IS UTTERLY CO SSETTING AND SURREAL, LIKE TRICKLING ABSINTHE OVER SUGAR CUBES IN THE CENTRE O F A CLO UD’
While the Robert Opron-designed ‘Series 3’ facelift of late 1967 has an interstellar charm all of its own, with its glazed-over headlights, there’s greater purity here in the form of Miles Thomas’s pre-facelift 1967 DS 21. ‘It was originally burgundy,’ he explains. ‘It was found in a barn in south-west France where it had sat for over 30 years; the UK-based enthusiast who commissioned the restoration was keen to find a car that was mint underneath, as original as possible – and then have it painted in a launch colour.’
The restoration was undertaken by Pallas Auto in Gravesend, which rebuilt the seized engine, overhauled the suspension system, and perfected the body before repainting it in this striking shade of 1955-spec green, topped off with a roof in blanc carrare. The interior has been sumptuously retrimmed in a deep green to suit; there’s much debate over the periodcorrectness of the colour, but there’s no arguing that it looks utterly sublime. Miles has enjoyed a number of national and international tours already and has plenty more planned. Twist the key, depress the throttle, thumb the starter button, and the 2175cc motor settles into a characteristically thrumming idle. Perhaps it’s because your behind is buried in a good six inches of foam, with a few more inches of padding beneath the carpet, but the gentle side-to-side rocking is eminently soothing. The column shift has a slick and natural feel to it, though the brakes take a little getting used to, with a rubber mushroom
1967 Citroën DS 21
Engine 2175cc OHV four-cylinder, single Weber carburettor Power 109bhp @ 5500rpm Torque 128lb ft @ 3000rpm
Clockwise, from opposite Four generations over five decades, sharing clear family traits; DS engine is mounted well back; stylish dash, but the DS is all about comfort inside.
1987 Citroën CX 25 Prestige Turbo 2
(instead of a conventional pedal) that’s little more than an on/off switch, but it’s effortless once you’re used to it. Of course, the defining element of the experience is the ride: utterly cosseting and endlessly surreal, like trickling absinthe over sugar cubes in the centre of a cloud. Much like post-war France, modern Britain may be pockmarked with potholes, but the DS simply doesn’t notice.
THE CX IS, and always will be, belligerently Parisian. Even here, in the lush and verdant freshness of the Surrey countryside, it looks as if it should be puffing on a Gauloises while shrugging its way through the 7th Arrondissement. The shadow cast by its outré rear spoiler evokes that of the Eiffel Tower, echoes of André Citroën’s illuminated moniker still blazing bright. Indeed, a new factory was built to construct the CX in Aulnay-sous-Bois, a mere 20km from the famous landmark.
One might suggest that moving to CX from DS was an impossibly difficult task despatched with flair against the odds: it could easily have drawn criticism simply for not being the car it replaced. Yet, impressively and possibly unexpectedly, the act of applying an aerodynamic nose and a Kamm tail to an executive saloon created a four-door coupé profile that was decades ahead of its time.
You can see the roofline follow from DS through to CX, and onwards to the XM and C6, each model distinct yet all four conceptually kindred.
The wilfully bizarre spec of Richard Head’s ’87 CX is almost unicorn-like: it’s a Prestige, which means it’s the longer-wheelbase model – almost a foot longer, borrowed from the wagon version and with decadent rear legroom – but it has the Turbo 2’s spicy running gear. And while 1100-ish were built in left-hand-drive form, there were only five in RHD, and it’s believed that this is the only one finished in Neptune Grey.
A UK-market car that spent 20-odd years in France before being repatriated, it’s been restored at eye-watering expense. The original interior was swapped for this red number, pilfered from a German Prestige, and Richard’s penchant for period-correct extras has seen him add that rakish rear window louvre and some high-end 1980s audio, including the kooky Blaupunkt remote controller – helpful, as the stereo is mounted by your left thigh.
Driving is an exercise in presidential refinement, with wonderfully squishy yet huggy seats, controls designed to keep your hands at ten-to-two, indicators activated by a rocker switch that’s a twitch away from the steering wheel rim. Power delivery doesn’t thump you in the kidneys when it comes
on boost; instead there’s a gorgeous linearity to it, the low-down torque meeting the growing turbo swell to make it feel like your surge towards the horizon is wholly uninterrupted. Fear not, though, there’s a prominent whistle and an equally prominent boost gauge, so the ’80s creds are appropriately strong – and yes, I did laugh out loud the first time the needle got into the interesting part of the sweep. A car this luxurious shouldn’t have this sort of hooligan shove, should it?
Inevitably, the suspension makes sense of the whole package. Unlike the cartoon wallow of the DS, the CX’s hydropneumatics rein in lateral motion to ensure that the focus is on refinement and control, ironing out bumps rather than simply ignoring them. You don’t feel like you’re going to fall out if you go around a corner with the window open. That’s how this car manages to be simultaneously a limousine and a hot rod; as with the Voiture à Grande Diffusion concept, it had to be quick and comfortable in equal measure, and it really delivers.
THE STYLING of the avant-garde XM was a victory of aesthetics over logic. Entertaining insider tales tell of how the design shoot-out in the conceptual phase yielded a frankly unbelievable set of proportions from Bertone, and ‘unbelievable’ turned out to be the
‘THE STYLING O F THE AVANTGARDE XM WAS A VICTO RY O F AESTHETICS OVER LO GIC’
Clockwise, from opposite CX was ahead of its time stylistically, later aped by C6 (in background); angular XM arrived in 1989; turbocharged CX engine; startling CX interior.
1992 Citroën XM Turbo SED
Engine 2088cc 12v OHC four-cylinder turbodiesel Power 110bhp @ 4300rpm
Torque 188lb ft @ 2000rpm Transmission Five-speed manual, front-wheel drive
Steering Rack and pinion, power-assisted Suspension Front: MacPherson struts, self-levelling Hydropneumatic spheres, anti-roll bar. Rear: trailing arms, self-levelling Hydropneumatic spheres, anti-roll bar Brakes Discs, vented at front, ABS
Weight 1365kg Top speed 119mph 0-60mph 12.4sec
operative word after the design was approved for development – when it became apparent that Bertone had largely ignored the engineering package and it would be nigh-on impossible to squeeze everything in.
Or so the story goes. What is easier to prove is that Bertone’s styling proposals featured semi-enclosed rear wheels, a head-up display and a six-headlamp nose. Perseverance and tenacity won out, solutions were found and compromises reached, and the result was a stupendously unlikely car. The XM, really, shouldn’t look like this. It’s little short of an engineering miracle that it does.
Russ Wallis, who owns this one, has an interesting theory: ‘The XM is the spiritual successor to the SM,’ he muses. ‘The wedgy nose echoes its frontal styling, and this was the first hydro Citroën since the SM to feature a V6 engine as an option.’
It’s clear that Russ’s appetite for the XM’s flavourful intricacies runs deep. He’s owned this Turbo SED since 2014, replacing his previous XM, and it’s become an ongoing
pursuit to create his own perfect vision of what an early XM should be. Chief among the changes is a transmission conversion – it was originally automatic, it’s now on its second manual gearbox – as well as swapping to the launch-spec single-spoke steering wheel. Russ is only this car’s third owner, and it still wears its dealer plates.
‘You’ve got to collect as many spares as you can,’ he laughs. ‘These cars are getting so scarce now, whenever one comes on the market being broken for parts you have to rush over and harvest it for the bits you need now or might need in the future; with the current gearbox, for instance, I had to go to Scotland to fetch it. And these alloy wheels – well, between you and me, they’re not technically correct for this model year or spec, they’re V6 alloys from the first two years of production, but I just think they look great. Oh, and did you know that this engine was the first ever 12-valve diesel in a production car?’
The wide and expansive dash lays the instruments out logically; perhaps less logical
are the steering wheel buttons, at odds with the CX, which keeps the major controls within a finger-stretch. But this is a minor quibble, as two things dominate the experience. First there’s the turbo: this diesel boosts ridiculously hard, propelling you down the road like a forthrightly despatched shuttlecock, whistling entertainingly all the while; this car may have covered 180,000 miles but it feels impressively tight and eager. And second, of course, there’s that ride. It may be two generations evolved, but it seems to eschew the CX’s economy of movement to revert back to the DS’s extrovert showboating. Turn the key and the XM rises on its suspension like a leviathan, then proceeds to shimmy through the corners with superlative verve, colourfully attempting to paint its doorhandles along the tarmac as it boosts generously through the scenery.
THE C6 IS the odd one out within this esteemed quartet, for the fact that you can’t encourage it to phase between off-roader teetering and lowrider stance at will. Its
Above, left and bottom right
In chronological order, DS leads CX, XM and C6; XM is deceptively simple-looking inside, in this case featuring a launch-spec single-spoke wheel; 12-valve four-cylinder diesel a first.
‘IF YO U ASKED AN AI PR O GRAMME TO DRAW YO U A FUTURISTIC INTERPRETATI O N O F THE CX, THE C6 WO ULD SURELY BE IT’
2010
Citroën
Left and below C6 sought to offer a characteristically French take on luxury motoring – and twin digital displays foretold the future; turbodiesel V6 is effortlessly torquey but C6 prioritises ride comfort over performance.
C6 HDI Exclusive
Engine 2993cc 24v V6 turbodiesel, DOHC per bank Power 241bhp @ 3800rpm Torque 332lb ft @ 1600rpm Transmission Six-speed automatic, front-wheel drive Steering Rack and pinion, power-assisted Suspension Front: double wishbones, self-levelling Hydropneumatic spheres. Rear: multi-link, self-levelling Hydropneumatic spheres Brakes Vented discs, ABS Weight 1848kg Top speed 149mph 0-60mph 8.5sec
hydropneumatics, in Hydractive 3+ guise, are rather less extravagant in the theatrics: it goes up and down more modestly. But thanks to its overall oddness, the C6 fits right in with this crowd. The more you pore over its curves and angles, the more retro-inspired trinketry you unearth: the saucy curvature of the rear screen aping that of the CX, the full-width front grille consisting simply of a minimalist pair of train tracks, the playfully offbeat manner in which the C-pillar bleeds its windows into the hoop-over tail-light clusters. If you asked an AI programme to draw you a futuristic interpretation of the CX, the C6 would surely be it. It’s even got a boot that looks like it should be a hatchback but, er, isn’t.
It’s all thanks to the deft penmanship of inhouse designer Marc Pinson, pulling off that incredibly neat trick seen elsewhere with the Audi TT and Alfa Romeo Brera: bringing a concept car to market more or less unchanged in the major details.
Fighting off strong competition from a raft of equally retro-fabulous designs from the likes of ltaldesign, Pininfarina, Bertone, Heuliez and DRA, Pinson’s C6 Lignage concept of 1999 was unveiled at the Geneva motor show amid overt assertions that there were no plans to put the concept into production… yet in 2005, there it was, the XM’s successor after
a gap of a few years, stuffed to the gills with innovative technology.
The buying public was treated to a head-up display, directional xenon headlights, lane departure warning and an active rear spoiler –plus, of course, the latest evolution of the hydropneumatic suspension. Hydractive 3+, running orange LDS fluid, offered fresh dynamism, lowering at motorway speeds and with a ‘Sport’ button for tightening up the handling – though it’s never so gauche as to be aggressively stiff.
Shaun Lilley has dedicated 20 years of his life to Citroën and has owned this C6 for 11 years – with a brief hiatus when it was sold to a friend for practical reasons, although he bought it back at the first opportunity. Of the three spec levels available – base, Lignage, Exclusive – this is the last, with full leather and sat-nav. Naturally it feels the most modern car here, and what’s striking is how well the interior design has aged: the elegant parchment-like dash finish and the tasteful wood-effect finish are an effortlessly French expression of class. It’s a world away from more conformist cabins of the same vintage.
All that dates it is the digital dash display, which presumably felt futuristic at the time, but is closer to the instrumentation found in the Mk2 Astra GTE of the late 1980s than the
TFT screens that shortly afterwards appeared in some rivals. Still, it’s post-modern, weird for the sake of weird and engineered to work. And to drive, the C6 is an absolute marvel. It’s exquisitely comfortable yet taut through the curves, and it shrugs off potholes with the nonchalance of a DS: the damping and body control are remarkable. Press the Sport button and the damping stiffens, but not to the extent of being crashy or jarring. The brawny 3.0-litre turbodiesel V6 serves up lashings of rich, creamy torque; this may be Citroën’s executive saloon, but at its heart it’s a continentdevouring GT – not unlike the SM.
The real takeaway from driving the top-tier C6 is that these cars are criminally undervalued these days; they’re few and far between but less than ten grand buys an excellent one, compared with £20,000 for the best CX and easily double that for the DS.
Drive a C6 and you’ll find that it’s every bit as evocative, intelligent and enjoyable as its predecessors. You’ll also realise why C6 owners tend to hang onto them for a while. I mean, what on Earth would you replace it with?
THANKS TO Adrian Chapman and Darrin Brownhill at the Citroën Car Club, and Amy Bone at The Jockey Club for permission to shoot at Epsom Downs.
THE OTHER HY DR O CITR O ËNS
Those luxury saloons didn’t have the monopoly on ride comfort –or weirdness
Words Glen Waddington
M 35 1969
Weird, even by Citroën standards: only 267 were built of 500 planned, all bodied by coachbuilder Heuliez in coupé style on an Ami 8 base, the smallest of the hydro-suspended Citroëns – and powered by a 497.5cc single-rotor Wankel engine. Each one was labelled a prototype and offered to selected Citroën customers to put all the tech to a real-world test. It was a total showcase yet sadly only 100 escaped the crusher as part of Citroën’s buy-back scheme (basically a bid to avoid parts back-up responsibility). Suspension lessons learnt made their way into the subsequent GS, as did the gearbox.
SM 1970-75
The most Citroën of Citroëns? It was certainly the most ambitious, built off the back of the incredible success of the DS, yet so complex and costly that it ultimately resulted in the company being rescued by Peugeot. How so? Well, ‘Project S’ sought to match a new engine to the sophistication of the hydropneumatic suspension in the way that had been denied the DS. So the company bought Maserati, which lopped a couple of cylinders off its V8 and ‘hey presto’! Definitely an acquired taste, but a superb tourer and the ultimate expression of Robert Opron’s styling prowess.
GS 1970-86
Styled again by Robert Opron and clearly inspired by Pininfarina’s Berlina Aerodinamica, this time a compact car for the family, highly aerodynamic and with a specially designed air-cooled flat-four, as well as hydropneumatic suspension: it was a real tour de force in a world of Ford Escorts and Opel Kadetts and became a near-2million seller in its original form. With an interior inspired by the SM, this was the first Citroën to feature rotatingbarrel instrumentation. Not special enough? The Wankel-powered GS Birotor appeared in 1973, with all-disc brakes and a three-speed semi-auto transmission, though few escaped Peugeot’s desperate scrappage plan. The GS evolved into the hatchback GSA in 1979.
BX 1982-94
Still wilfully odd if measured against a VW Golf, the BX nevertheless sought to win over conservative buyers with its ‘Loves driving, hates garages’ sales slogan. Angular Bertone lines by Marcello Gandini clad a car physically larger than the GS; bonnet, tailgate and bumpers were plastic. Some stylistic dilution began in 1986, with a restyled interior that swapped the earlier version’s pod-style switchgear for Peugeot stalks and sadly rid the world of Citroën’s characteristic spinning speedometer once and for all, but the rise-and-fall suspension remained to the end. The body-kitted BX 16V from 1987 made a characterful if unlikely hot hatch.
XANTIA 1992-2001
Refined hatchback with subtle Bertone lines, bigger than the BX it replaced yet slotted beneath the XM. It continued with hydropneumatic suspension, the last Citroën that linked the hydraulics to brakes and steering. Shared Peugeot 406 underpinnings gave access to engines including a punchy turbo four and a loping 3.0-litre V6. Ultra-rare Activa version featured anti-roll suspension technology.
C5 2000-2007 and 2007-2019
Follow-up to the Xantia, available in two generations, initially a large hatchback (an estate came later, as with all these cars from the GS on), still with hydropneumatic suspension though conventional brakes and steering. All-new second version looked more conventional than its predecessors – and was conventionally sprung in most cases. Hydropneumatics were restricted to posher versions, and are hence exceptionally rare.
TO MONGOLIA
THE HARD WAY
You have three months to travel nearly 20,000km and cross a little-known Asian wilderness. A pair of Soviet military amphibious vehicles should do the trick
Words Robb Pritchard Photography Michal Dufek, Marek Duranský and Vojta Duchoslav
When choosing an expedition vehicle for a multi-month trip from the Czech Republic to Mongolia through challenging countries such as Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, considerations such as capability, reliability and the availability of parts should be taken into account. Usually.
Dan Priban carried out his vehicle selection slightly differently: a pair of 40-year-old Ukrainian supposedly amphibious vehicles was his choice.
‘You wouldn’t be sitting here talking to me if we’d done it in a Land Rover or a Unimog,’ Dan shrugs. Unusual expedition vehicles, it turns out, are his forte. He is known in his native Czech Republic for the ten years he spent driving Trabants around the world. ‘We went to many countries, but one we couldn’t do in such useless cars was Mongolia. It was a country we wanted to explore, but we needed another car for that. We decided to see Mongolia in a way that “normal” people don’t. We chose one that floats.’
The pair of LuAZ 967s are each powered by a 1.2-litre four-cylinder air-cooled magnesium alloy engine, though any similarity to a Porsche ends there. Some 8000 were
produced in the ’70s and ’80s, used by the USSR as an extraction vehicle for injured troops. They feature fourwheel drive and were designed to be light enough to be transportable by air. These two were named Vegu and Voza by kindergarten kids. With Covid and conflict in Ukraine and Azerbaijan, the trip kept getting pushed back, but the team of seven, led by Dan, decided that it would be now or never, and so the two bathtubs-with-wheels were pushed into the workshop to be prepared – which turned out to be an experience in itself. As well as carrying out a thorough (parts allowing) service, they constructed tents on top for a bit of shelter from the elements. They would be accompanied by a Honda ATC trike on balloon tyres. Because why not?
On the first day they managed an incredible 500km, topping out at 80km/h. The good progress lasted until the second day, when an oil seal failed in one of the LuAZ engines, coating everything in hot oil. Fortunately they were just outside Budapest – and Hungary is the only country in Europe that has a LuAZ club. Such vehicles were used there half a century ago, and some locals still have an affection for them. Not only was the team able to find the required seal set but one guy was also able to fit it for them,
which included practically stripping the engine down. It was better luck than they could have hoped for, but it certainly wasn’t going to be the only part that needed fixing.
Cutting a long story short, a few weeks and 4000km later they made it to the eastern border of Turkey. The gearbox in Vegu kept getting stuck in fourth gear but, with a bit of rocking and fiddling, they could keep it going. And Iran was where the real journey began. What stood out in this often maligned country – other than the mad driving standards, where it seemed all other road users were trying to kill them in locally built Peugeots – was the heart-warming hospitality offered to strangers. The crew couldn’t go a few minutes without being invited into someone’s home for a meal.
Iran in June is hot. It’s also a very mountainous country. Not a great combination for the LuAZs. Crawling along at 15km/h, the air-cooled engines struggling to cope, every few minutes the team had to stop to let them cool down. But a bigger issue was that Vegu kept getting properly stuck in fourth gear. And when it wouldn’t go into third, they knew they had to strip it down to see what the problem was. In the shade of a tree, they pulled up and got the tools out. The curious and kind locals brought sweet tea and cola and the
local farmer held a phone up with the translation: ‘I must set the wheat on fire.’ Dan was wondering about the accuracy of Iranian translation software when clouds of smoke poured overhead: clearing a field of stubble is easier by burning it. After the team had helped put out flames that had threatened to engulf the farmer’s house, they found that Vegu’s main shaft had worn out. A 40-year-old Ukrainian amphibious vehicle doesn’t have a gearbox that looks anything like a normal car’s, of course. They didn’t have a spare, and shipping one from home would have taken weeks, so they were at a bit of a loss. Someone suggested it was worth trying a local machine shop. It seemed impossible, but after a few attempts to get the right thread and toothings, in less than a day they had a replacement!
Iran gave way to the madness of Turkmenistan. The cost of their six-day transit came to €5500, but they had to keep to a very strict schedule and were forced to stay in state-run hotels that looked like sets in a post-apocalyptic film. Oh, and they weren’t allowed in the capital city Ashgabat because all cars there have to be white.
When Dan and his crew had to drive 400km in 40ºC heat in order to stay on schedule, they knew they were pushing
Clockwise, from top left Abandoned town of Chagan in Kazakhstan, near a huge nuclear weapons testing site; picturesque Iranian town of Chandovan; exiting Turkmenistan with no petrol and a stalled engine; full throttle on a deserted airport runway; noise in the cars is so loud that you need an intercom; Honda trike adds a Mad Max touch.
‘WITH A BIT OF CAREFUL INCHING IN, THEY GOT INTO THE RIVER AND WERE AWAY’
their unsuitable cars to the absolute limit – so Dan wasn’t surprised when the engine in Vegu seized. A $1400 per day fine would be levied if they didn’t leave the totalitarian country in time, it was their last day and they were 250km from the border. So they rented a tow-truck, which at €50 was one of few bargains to be had there. But then there was no petrol. No one knew why. The trike ran out and had to be loaded on as well. Then Voza broke a wheel in a pothole, which they had to hammer back roughly circular. And then the tow-truck got a puncture and they couldn’t get the wheel off… All in a day’s travel in a LuAZ.
Uzbekistan was completely different. The locals in Bukhara welcomed the towed-in team with open arms, but after a few days searching for parts they realised the only solution was to ask a friend to fly from Europe with replacement cylinders, pistons and connecting rods. A couple of days of putting it all back together and Vegu was as good as new. Perhaps even better.
Kazakhstan meant long days of endless deserts, though with good roads, before a short section through Russia. Dan doesn’t have particularly fond memories of the FSB officer going through his phone, asking about his Ukrainian friends. And his laptop. ‘Turkmenistan is so messed up with its megalomaniac leader that it was just funny, comical, but in Russia these days there is nothing to laugh at,’ he says.
‘There will be a day when there is no FSB. Only then would I like to go back to Russia, not before.’
Three months after leaving Prague, they made it to magical Mongolia, but no sooner were they across the border than they were hit by a blessing and a tragedy at the same time. One of the team went to fly home to be at the birth of his son, but they found out that their friend Radek, who was to replace him, had suddenly passed away. It was an awful shock and for days they were unsure about how to continue. At one of the Buddhist temples Stalin hadn’t destroyed, they set some prayer wheels spinning in Radek’s memory and reflected on the cycles of life.
The cycle of repairing the cars hadn’t ended, either. The team tried to press on, but it seemed the universe was trying to tell them to slow down and take the time to look around. Vegu yet again ground to a halt with a fuel starvation problem and Voza broke something in the steering, so could only turn right. They stripped and checked Vegu’s fuel system, assumed the fuel pump was at fault, and cursed the mechanic who’d worked on both the engine that had seized and the gearbox that had given them so much trouble.
With a new electric pump fitted, Vegu worked – but failed yet again just a few minutes later. Dan pulled off the road, ready to smash both LuAZ vehicles to bits, but then the storm started. Winds whipped up dust at first, but the rains came, a deluge that the locals, huddled around the fire in their yurt, hadn’t seen for many years. Water filled the rivers and swelled the lakes. The country was impassable – unless you had cars that float. It seemed like a sign.
Clockwise, from above
Thanks to huge rains, Gobi Desert goes green; farewell to a friend, leaving for the birth of his child; many think Mongolia is a big flat plain but it’s full of mountains; a lake in the middle of the desert due to extreme rainfall; the hardest part about swimming with a car is driving into and out of the water; landscapes could be otherwordly.
‘THREE
MONTHS AFTER LEAVING PRAGUE, THEY MADE IT TO MAGICAL MONGOLIA’
It turned out that a loose bolt in Voza’s steering and a blocked vent pipe in Vegu’s fuel tank were all that was wrong and, with renewed enthusiasm, they continued. ‘The Mongolian wilderness is like nothing we’d seen anywhere else in the world,’ Dan says. ‘And we’ve seen quite a bit! It’s like living in an adventure novel that you read with bated breath when you were 13. Except this is real.’
And indeed ‘float’ is perhaps an optimistic way to describe the LuAZ’s on-water capabilities. Better to say that it doesn’t sink quite as fast as a normal car, as long as the pump extracts water quicker than it comes through all the imperfectly sealed gaps. There is no propeller, just the spinning wheels for forward motion. With a bit of careful inching in, they got into the river and were away. After 17,000km, finally they were sailing in Mongolia.
In the south of the most sparsely populated country in the world, lakes had sprung up in the fabled Gobi desert.
The LuAZ, well-suited neither to motorway driving nor off-roading, had come into its own at last, and the team was floating in the sand dunes. ‘The highlight of our trip was when we sailed through the Gobi desert. Right under some of the biggest dunes in the world. We were sitting in the car that we’d driven nearly 20,000km from our home, sailing along with it, against this majestic backdrop. Just magical.’
The end of the trip finished, perhaps a little predictably, with a breakdown when Voza’s steering broke to such a degree that it was impossible to fix. But the plan was only to go to Mongolia – not back, and so the rather simpler task of dragging it to a road was all the team had to achieve.
It might have been the end of the journey for these two vehicles, but it certainly isn’t for Dan. He already has plans; plans that make this trip seem all too easy. What could be harder than traversing some of Asia’s least hospitable terrain in a LuAZ? Watch this space.
Clockwise, from top left Final destination Ulaanbaatar; yaks, cows, horses, goats and endless wilderness; sailing by car in the middle of the Gobi Desert –almost certainly the first to do so.
PLAYTIME IS OVER!
electric ‘Blower’ Bentley has hit the streets…
James Elliott
Photography Bentley Motors
Let’s address the elephant in the room at the outset –you are going to miss the thunder and the fumes, everything noxious and noisy that should turn the stomach, but instead stirs the soul. You will miss it terribly, achingly, deeply. This is a point underlined by a ride in the most famous of all ‘Blowers’ a couple of hours after a 20mile test drive in the new Bentley Blower Junior that is the focal point of the day. That vintage behemoth is, of course, Tim Birkin’s 1930 Le Mans car, crown jewel of Bentley’s 48-car Heritage Collection and valued at some £25million. That this car has risen to the status of the most vaunted and valuable vintage Bentley of all is only the more astonishing because, though it frequently competed, it rarely finished and never won. In the process it proved correct the disapproving WO Bentley’s mantra of reliability first (by increasing capacity).
Inspired by Amherst Villiers and funded by the Hon Dorothy Paget, Bentley Boy Tim Birkin, who won the 1929 Le Mans in a Speed Six, set out to build just over 50 supercharged ‘Blower’ Bentley 4.5s of which four were to be team cars. ‘UU 5872’ was the second of those and, at Le Mans in 1930, blazed away with Caracciola’s Merc SSK before inevitably failing with four hours to go. Another Paget-entered Blower lasted a further hour before also expiring, while the third had failed even to make the start. Bentley Motors, meanwhile, took what must have been an immensely satisfying 1-2 with its Speed Sixes.
During their short, podium-averse careers, however, the cavalier, swaggering, win-or-bust Blowers with 125mph top speeds, 240hp and visible and audible pace captivated race fans. They still do.
UU 5872 was acquired by Bentley 25 years ago and was the model for the 12 continuation cars that it announced in 2019, for which the car was minutely (and handily) laser-scanned to ensure perfection.
Now those scans have been crucial in helping to create something the same but completely different: the Bentley Blower Jnr.
This electric mini-me was never intended to replicate a genuine Blower, of course, and even its creator describes it as the ‘perfect pub car’. It was pre-Covid that this plan was hatched, back when Hedley Studios was still called the Little Car Company (the namechange to bury the perception that its products were toys) and had launched its first ‘icon’, the Bugatti Type 35.
‘We only ever work in partnership with manufacturers and were introduced to Bentley by Bugatti and it just sort of evolved from there,’ says Ben Hedley, boss of the company that has made some 500 junior cars in the six years it has been up and running, including the wonderful Tamiya Wild One Max. ‘The thing is, what we really didn’t want to do was to make another 75% pre-war car and, when we started working with Mike Sayer and the team at Bentley, they were refreshingly open to both increasing the size and making it road-legal.
‘We used all the data and scans from the continuation cars, but homologation has been tricky. We could have gone the IVA route and just built it to pass the test and then undone a few things, but with a full run planned we thought “No one’s ever properly homologated something like this before, so that’s what we should do.” We soon found out there’s a reason no one had done it before and that’s because it’s bloody difficult taking a 1920s car design and making it comply with 21st Century L7e regulations. It took between six months and a year longer than we’d hoped and delayed the project in the process.’
For me, the story of the tech and the legal hoops that had to be jumped through to get this thing on the road with a registration plate is almost as fascinating as the resulting car. And the key points for L7e are a weight of 450kg and continuous power of 15kW, though it can
Clockwise, from left Winding it up to 40mph, though there is more to come; solid on the road thanks to low centre of gravity; seatbelt poles a stub exhaust-style distraction; dashboard nicely done.
peak higher than that. Fortunately, that 450kg is without batteries, so the Blower Jnr just limbos under (the batteries add about another 100kg) to qualify as a quadricycle in the UK and the EU. That opens all sorts of doors, though sadly not a door that allows you to do without the seatbelt poles or reversing camera screen that is there to meet USA LSV regs – which will also limit the Jnr to 25mph, though they are aiming for full replica status – and is set into the lovely engine-turned dash. It’s all relative: the joy of an obnoxiously loud foot-operated klaxon seems to compensate for all those compromises.
Each Blower Jnr is built on a steel ladder chassis with carbonfibre tub, takes a week to assemble and is 80% UK-sourced, though the 10.8kWh-storage air-cooled batteries are from Holland, the motor from Italy and the girder-strength single-unit ATV rear axle from the USA.
I must say, I like the thought that has gone into it and the way nothing is just a dummy item that’s there only for show, solely to complete the famous silhouette. The front indicators are brilliantly subtle, that US-required reversing camera is disguised atop the rearward seatbelt turret, even the charging point is hidden in the nose of the imposing front-mounted ‘blower’. The top of the famous rear-mounted fuel tank flips up to reveal storage for a small suitcase or couple of soft bags. It may not look it but this is a tandem two-seater, after all. Personally I wouldn’t fancy being the rear-seat passenger for long, but Ben Hedley reckons he has spent an entire charge – so about 60 miles – back there. He is considerably younger and more supple than me.
‘The ride on leaf springs and rotary dampers feels authentic’
is. None is going to scare you but it will scuttle along pretty briskly and the torque off the line offers a little frisson every time. That is equally down to the tyres. The tall and skinny Blockley 4.50/5.00 x 18s on 40-spoke five-stud rims not only look absolutely vintagecorrect on the car, they add a huge amount of pleasure to the driving, too. They are immense fun on the road, especially a damp or greasy one, squirrelling and squirming along with abandon but no loss of control, exploiting all the capers offered by such a low centre of gravity. That said, Hedley Studios says it has consciously reduced lateral seat grip for the driver to discourage them sliding it all the time, which you could do but apparently shouldn’t. Trust me, you will. Steering, wholly unassisted and with a box system that looks just like it should as it snakes through and around the front offside suspension, is really excellent, a generous turning circle quite period, and the ride on leaf springs and rotary dampers feels authentic, even if the latter also dampen handling sharpness. With Brembo discs at the front from a Ducati Diavel and ATV drums at the rear, it stops pretty well, too.
The driver’s seat, on the other hand, is roomy and comfortable, the interior is beautifully finished and the central driving position a bit of a thrill, as always. The whole ‘car’ has roughly a VW Polo’s footprint and feels about the size of an MG Midget on the road, though you sit high so you never feel vulnerable or overwhelmed by modern traffic. The 15kW motor will give 22hp and probably hustle it to 50mph, but all the 346 miles of road in Jersey are limited to 40mph or less, which is why the 46sq mile Channel Island is the ideal spot for us to test it.
There are three modes – Comfort, Bentley and Sport – which really only govern throttle response and power output. Sport gives maximum of both at the expense of a modicum of charge, so Sport it
Our 20-mile fun-run brought the charge down to about 70% and it takes from 3 to 4.5 (how appropriate) hours to fully charge. Officially its WLTP is 120km. With production now underway and first deliveries in a few months, Hedley expects 95% to go abroad as with his other products, but says there has been more UK interest in this than in the previous Bugatti and Ferrari: ‘We have tried to tastefully reinterpret the car, working very closely with Bentley to create something that we think is going to be a bit of fun. There are only ever going to be 349 of them – 99 launch editions and 250 series cars [of which 120 are already bought or reserved] – and then we’ll stop.’
Would I like one? Yes. Could I ever afford one? No. At a smidgen under £130,000, before you have even started optioning the rather nice Bentley oval sidestep or Borranis, it is not for the parsimonious, just as the reaction it gets ensures it is not for the shy and retiring. But, then, if you can afford the real deal, or even a continuation, that is a drop in the ocean. Of course, it may be that, with 349 due to be built, the Blower Jnr is not quite bespoke enough for you; in that case you can put it through Bentley’s full Mulliner programme…
PARTY
As Jaguar prepares for a bold step into the future, Octane celebrates the F-type Project 7, a thrilling sports car that draws on the marque’s Le Mans heritage
Words Elliott Hughes Photography GF Williams
It’s hard not to feel a twinge of nostalgia – even a pang of loss –when driving a petrol-powered Jaguar sports car in 2025. That’s especially true of the F-type Project 7, in many respects the high-water mark of a lineage that began with the XK120 in 1948 and included some of the most iconic British cars ever made.
The end of that tradition has been looming for a while. In 2022 Jaguar announced its all-electric reinvention, as it took a first step towards its ninth life as a luxury EV brand. Is it the right move? Only time will tell. But one thing’s clear: the marque had to act. It had, after all, been in stasis for some time, though opinion is split as to whether Jaguar’s highly publicised brand relaunch last year was more controversy than comeback. The proof will arrive with the production car, expected late next year.
Meanwhile, I’m about to get behind the wheel of a Jaguar F-type Project 7. This 2015 example is one of just 250 built by Jaguar Land Rover’s Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) division, and only 80 of those were destined for the UK. Its first owner was the founder of the ASK Italian restaurant chain; in June 2016 it moved on to property tycoon Christian Candy. The current owner – a discerning collector – acquired the car in 2021 and is now selling it through Simon Drabble Cars. Still it shows only 2500 miles on the clock, so it’s as close to a new Project 7 as you’ll find.
Driving a car such as this is always a privilege – particularly as hindsight tells us that Project 7 represents the end of an era, being the pinnacle of Jaguar’s front-engined sports car tradition. Born from overwhelming demand for the concept unveiled at the 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed, Project 7 is named after the marque’s seven Le Mans victories, while Ian Callum’s styling references the legendary D-type racer. Make no mistake: this rare cat has the claws to match its snarl.
Based on the F-type R Convertible, the Project 7 is lighter and more powerful and benefits from a sharpened chassis and myriad downforcegenerating components. Beneath that long, muscular bonnet is the same 5.0-litre supercharged V8 found in the regular R model, but tuned with more boost, magnesium headers and an Inconel exhaust system to deliver 567bhp – a 25bhp increase.
The extra firepower is complemented by Project 7’s 1585kg kerbweight, 45kg lighter than the R Convertible, thanks largely to a simplified rag-top roof and helped by the standard fitment of Brembo carbon-ceramic brakes and lightweight carbon-backed seats. This yields a power-toweight ratio of 357bhp per tonne – identical to that of a 2016 Porsche 911 Turbo S. Unsurprisingly, the all-important acceleration and top speed figures are just as impressive: 0-60mph in 3.8sec and then on to 186mph (electronically limited, of course). That’s what £43,000 more than the price of the R Convertible bought you.
It’s the suspension and aerodynamic refinements that truly set the Project 7 apart. Bespoke cast aluminium suspension arms and revised front knuckles allow for an extra degree of negative camber over the standard F-type. Front spring rates are 80% stiffer and there’s an 8% increase at the rear, complemented by retuned dampers, bespoke antiroll bars and revised top mounts. Aerodynamic upgrades include a reshaped nose, carbonfibre front splitter, underfloor venturi tunnels, a carbonfibre rear wing and the dramatic D-type-inspired composite fairing that sweeps down behind the driver’s headrest. Together they yield a remarkable 177% increase in downforce over the F-type R.
To my eyes, the car looks fantastic – particularly when finished in a fittingly villainous shade of Ultimate Black over Santorini Black upholstery. This particular example also forgoes the slightly twee 1960s-style stripes and roundels and looks all the better for it. The
‘MAKE NO MISTAKE: THIS RARE CAT HAS THE CLAWS TO MATCH ITS SNARL’
only mildly questionable element aesthetically is the rear wing, which feels a touch too modern alongside the voluptuous headrest fairing, though there’s absolutely no questioning its efficacy. Even so, the Project 7 strikes an impressive balance as a modern car with classic touches that stops short of pastiche territory.
The glorious styling and welcome weight-saving measures do come with a compromise, however. Owners must make do with a clip-on bimini roof to get you home and (fairly) dry should the weather turn. After all, the Project 7 was conceived as an open-top car from the outset, pre-empting the arrival of the McLaren Elva, Ferrari Monza and Aston Martin V12 Speedster limited editions – all of which are far more expensive and even less practical than the Jag.
Happily, Surrey is basking in bright blue skies and early spring sunshine today, which means the ragtop can remain tucked away in its quilted leather bag in the boot – where it belongs. The only thing left to do is slink into the carbon-backed driving seat and find out what it’s like to drive an F-type that sends 567bhp to its rear wheels.
That seat is both comfortable and supportive, with generous bolstering that hugs your torso in all the right places. Jab the ‘Engine Start’ button and the Jag’s 5.0-litre supercharged V8 erupts into life with a bark before settling to a purposeful idle. Even with the exhaust in its most introverted
setting, this isn’t a car your neighbours are likely to appreciate at dawn, but given the right time and place it sounds damn’ fine!
Once the engine has warmed up, however, the Project 7 is surprisingly subtle. In ‘Normal’ mode the ride is nowhere near as firm and uncompromising as expected – it’s supple and soaks up road imperfections far better than many less hardcore sporting cars. The electric power steering is light and accurate, the braking is easy to modulate and the ZF eight-speed automatic transmission shifts almost seamlessly.
Just as surprising is the positive attention the Project 7 draws from passers-by. I had assumed most would mistake it for a very well-specced F-type – which, in a way, it is – but heads turn as if I’m driving a supercar. It speaks volumes about Ian Callum’s exceptional styling and the tweaks he wrought on this version.
Friday morning traffic gives way to the more open environment of the Epsom Downs and the kind of English country roads that have always been a Jaguar sports car’s natural habitat. Refreshingly, there are just two drive modes, and it’s time to switch from ‘Normal’ to ‘Dynamic’ – both of which can be fine-tuned to your exact preferences. In truth, though, these settings could be more aptly named Jekyll and Hyde, given the stark contrast in their personalities: hit the switch and the exhaust note shifts from a steadfast growl to a predatory roar, punctuated by a cacophony
2015 Jaguar F-type Project 7
Engine 5000cc 32v V8, DOHC per bank, supercharged
Power 567bhp @ 6500rpm Torque 502lb ft @ 2500-5500rpm
Suspension Front: double wishbones, coil springs, telescopic dampers, anti-roll bar. Rear: multi-link, coil springs, telescopic dampers, anti-roll bar
Brakes Carbon-ceramic discs Weight 1585kg
Top speed 186mph (ltd) 0-60mph 3.8sec
Top, above and above left 5.0-litre supercharged V8 is in peak 567bhp form here; bimini-style rag-top offers little more than emergency shower protection; interior goes without radical tweaks.
‘THE EXHAUST NOTE SHIFTS FROM A GROWL TO A PREDATORY ROAR. SUBTLE IT IS NOT’
of pops and bangs on the overrun, like a vintage race car downshifting into Madgwick. Subtle it is not.
The steering, meanwhile, gets noticeably sharper (if remaining a little light on feel) and the nose feels incredibly keen to turn-in, undoubtedly helped by the stiffer front springs, revised damper settings and the increase in negative camber up front. It’s only when you start pushing really hard that the car’s weight becomes apparent, but the excellent suspension and powerful Brembo brakes mask it pretty well for the most part. Weirdly, 1585kg doesn’t even seem that heavy nowadays.
That the handling is so well-resolved is a relief, given the sheer power sent to the rear wheels. The straight-line performance is phenomenal and feels even faster than the numbers suggest. The eight-speed torqueconverter transmission is surprisingly snappy and the ratios are perfectly judged and short enough to allow you to exploit the powertrain fully on public roads: the crescendo of the thunderous V8 becomes intoxicating, the force of acceleration pressing you firmly into the bucket seat. Approach a corner, nail the brake pedal and time your downshifts to enhance the aural theatrics.
It feels wonderfully old-school, almost like a modern interpretation of something like a Shelby Cobra: a compact open-top car with a very powerful engine. Driving it hard demands focus; hit the brakes too hard and the ABS will nibble at the discs, letting you know you’ve overdone it. Be too eager with the throttle, and the rear end will squirm as the 295-section tyres scramble for grip – even with the traction and stability control enabled. Get it right and it’s pure playfulness; get it wrong, and it could feel a bit dangerous. It’s addictively entertaining.
After a B-road blast through the English countryside, it’s time to ease off, switching back to the calmer Normal mode on the way into town. This only underlines the car’s incredible duality, as the throttle response, suspension and steering become relaxed once more and the exhaust note quietens – which provides the opportunity for some reflection.
It’s been impossible not to think about Jaguar’s relaunch while out on the road in the Project 7. Particularly as this limited-production V8-powered performance car has provided such a thrilling yet refined driving experience. It’s the kind of car in which you could comfortably cover long distances (weather permitting), yet it shines on twisting backroads and would be even more exhilarating on a track. Ironically, when a manufacturer can create something this special yet still face financial challenges, it’s no surprise Jaguar needed to make a bold move. The company should be commended for having the courage to do so.
Project 7 undoubtedly ranks among the best of the Big Cats, standing alongside the XJ220, XE Project 8, and E-type for the provision of thrills. Hagerty values a 2015 Project 7 in this condition at between £130,000 and £138,000, which is notably close to its original £138,379 list price. That feels like a bargain now for such a rare, exhilarating and elegant machine – especially when it represents the last of a now-extinct breed.
THANKS TO Simon Drabble, simondrabblecars.co.uk
Top and above
High-back seats and, in the driver’s case, that D-type-inspired fin behind; low-profile F-type rendered even sleeker in this form.
EVEN BETTER THAN THE REAL THING
This official continuation actually improves on the greatest Ford Escort ever made. Both their stories are as unlikely as they are fascinating
Words David Lillywhite Photography Jordan Butters
Ithink he’d be happy with it,’ says Henry Mann thoughtfully, as the first official continuation of his father’s famous Mk1 Escort flies round the private test track behind us. ‘I’ve thought a lot about that and yes, he would have liked the car and the association with the Ford Motor Company again.’
This is the first media outing of the Alan Mann 68 Edition, a Ford-sanctioned recreation of the revolutionary Alan Mann Racing Ford Escort that won the 1968 British Saloon Car Championship in the hands of Australian Frank Gardner. The success of the original in the launch year of the Escort did much to cement the early success of the new model, and its bubble ’arches became one of the most replicated features of any fast Ford.
The car, registration XOO 349F, was no ordinary racing Escort – but just how special it was had been forgotten over the course of the previous five decades, until it was fully stripped back for every part to be laser-scanned and examined. We’re jumping the gun, but consider that its front suspension uses GT40 parts while the rear is on torsion bars rather than the standard Escort’s leaf springs or even the rally cars’ coil-over-damper units.
Perhaps you’re expecting to read that the recreation, of which 24 will be made, has stuck to now more tried and tested Escort set-ups –but that’s not the case. Instead, the Alan Mann 68 Edition continuations are almost inch-perfect copies of the original, using the identical mechanical layout. The only differences in the new car you see here are modern-spec roll-cage, seats, harnesses and fire extinguisher to enable it to compete in historic racing (it comes with an FIA Historic Passport). For those who don’t want to race it, there’s the option to buy a more period-correct version without the safety gear.
That both the 1968 car and this amazing continuation received full Ford backing seems remarkable, but both came about in quite different ways.
Opposite, top and bottom
The Alan Mann 68 Edition is a copy of the original –seen here driven by Frank Gardner, chasing Roy Pierpoint’s Chevrolet Camaro at Croft in 1969.
Alan Mann got his big break with success in the 1963 Marlboro 12 Hour race in Maryland, US, running a Cortina for Ford Competition Department head Henry Taylor, but he’d started out racing an Anglia as a sideline to his job at a local Ford dealership. He formed Alan Mann Racing in 1964 and, by the time the Escort Mk1 came about, the team had supported Ford’s racing and rallying efforts around Europe with the Mustang, Falcon, Cortina, GT40 and more. It was also working on the F3L prototype.
Over at Ford, Henry Taylor witnessed tests of the prototype Escort in 1967 and realised that it would make the perfect home for the Lotus Twin Cam engine, taking over from the successful Lotus Cortina. Walter Hayes, director of public relations at Ford, agreed and the board of directors approved the development of what became the Escort Twin Cam.
Of the first 25 Twin Cams made at Ford’s Competition Department in Boreham, six went to Alan Mann Racing – including XOO 349F. In just three months they were prepared for competition using a Formula 2 16-valve Cosworth FVA engine, based on the Twin Cam cylinder block. By May 1968 they had been homologated to compete in the British Saloon Car Championship, cleverly targeting different classes. One of the Escorts was even fitted with a ‘supercharger’ –actually an electric heater fan motor – to shift it into a higher class.
Taking over from the Cortinas part-way into the 1968 season, the Escorts soon came to dominate the championship, with Gardner winning it. It was a huge victory for Ford and for Alan Mann Racing.
In the European Touring Car Championship, regulations dictated that the Escorts instead used the eight-valve Twin Cam engine. Those same rules were brought in for the 1969 British Saloon Car Championship, into which Alan Mann Racing entered just one car,
2025 Ford Escort Alan Mann 68 Edition
Engine 1840cc DOHC four-cylinder, twin Weber 45 DCOE sidedraught carburettors, dry sump Power 202bhp @ 8000rpm Transmission Four-speed, straight-cut manual, rear-wheel drive Steering Rack and pinion Suspension Front: sliding-joint MacPherson strut, coil springs, anti-roll bar. Rear: five-link, Watt linkage, torsion bars, Koni telescopic dampers Brakes Discs Weight 795kg (in period-correct configuration) Top speed 135mph 0-60mph c5sec (according to gearing)
XOO 349F again, then sporting a Twin Cam engine and driven by Frank Gardner. It finished third in the championship, behind a Mini Cooper S and another Escort.
After this brief but bright competition career, XOO 349F went back to Ford, along with the other four remaining cars, one having been written off in testing. Alan Mann Racing continued to work with Ford, running the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe in the European rounds of the 1965 World GT Championship – along with several film cars, including Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
But in 1970 Ford cut back on its motorsport activities, in effect bringing an end to Alan Mann Racing. Frank Gardner and a few of the mechanics continued working from Fairoaks Airport in Surrey, where the team had been based. Alan, meanwhile, concentrated on his other passion, aviation, running a new business from the airport.
By the time Henry was born, Alan Mann Racing seemed long forgotten, and as a child Henry knew little of his father’s achievements. ‘He didn’t have any pictures or trophies out, he didn’t talk about it; it was like it was a secret,’ recalls Henry. ‘And then we went to the first Goodwood Festival of Speed – I was 12 – and people were coming up and asking for his autograph. I didn’t know what was going on!
‘After that, my dad’s enthusiasm was reignited. All the stuff came down from the loft, the trophies and the pictures, and all the stories started to come out. From then, there was a good 15 years of him being solely focused on historic racing and back with the old drivers. We’d go on holiday with Frank Gardner, John Whitmore and Jack Sears, have dinner with Jack Brabham, and I was there just lapping it all up.’
Alan began to buy up old Alan Mann Racing cars, including XOO 349F, and would drive in historic race events. When Alan became ill, Henry started to drive, and he and his brother inherited the family business when Alan died in 2012. Now Henry runs Alan Mann Racing, preparing and looking after a stable of historic race cars. The distinctive redand-gold cars are regulars in historic racing, but the story changed recently with an unexpected intervention.
Left, from top Ford’s official continuation car handles brilliantly; Octane’s David Lillywhite gets behind the wheel; old-style toggles, modern fire safety; familiar livery.
Behind the scenes, DRVN Automotive Group, headed by industrialist Darren McDermott, was talking to Ford Motor Company about the possibility of producing classic Ford continuation cars and a new RS200-inspired supercar. The company already owned Koenigsegg London and had bought up the automotive engineering Penso Group, ITG Filters and more, as well as launching a restomod version of the Ferrari 355 under its Evoluto banner.
At the 2023 Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court Palace, Henry Mann was introduced to Darren McDermott and DRVN CEO Iain Muir. Within a year, Ford had said yes to an official collaboration and Alan Mann Racing had become part of the DRVN Group, with a responsibility to build its top-level ‘Ultra Series’ cars and to provide trackside assistance for owners.
And that’s how I came to be sitting in the Alan Mann 68 Edition continuation car at the M-Sport private track in Cumbria, UK, with Henry Mann alongside.
Following the agreement with Henry, XOO 349F was stripped down to the last nut and bolt by the Alan Mann Racing team, and every component scanned by the DRVN Automotive Group, allowing a full digital model of the car to be created and analysed for strength – the first time this had been done for a Mk1 Escort. From there, those parts not already available (including many of the panels) were tooled and created. Then this first bodyshell was built at DRVN’s Newton Aycliffe and Coventry factories and assembled by Alan Mann Racing.
It was during this process that the full extent of the modifications to XOO really became clear. ‘We’ve had it for 20 years or more,’ says
Henry. ‘I’ve driven it a lot, and I thought I knew it inside-out. The mechanics thought they knew it, too, but they didn’t either.’
Henry cites the rear axle: ‘I didn’t appreciate the complexity of the work that had gone into that. The internal stiffening, bracing, oil control baffles, the fully floating hub arrangement, the oil pump and scavenge and return to spray at the crownwheel… it’s just so complicated and advanced. It’s the same with the GT40 parts in the front suspension. They’d just been working on the GT40 programme. They had bits around. They had experience. “Well, we need a ball joint – OK, we’ll do that.” It was nice to see the craftsmanship in the original car, which we’ve replicated with some of the original guys still around.’
That latter aspect is significant. ‘The suspension is complicated and hard to make. We had to use techniques that are unusual, like nickel bronze gas welding, which preserves more strength than if you were to weld it. It’s a dying art, a lost skill, so we’ve actually used one of the original fabricators, Jim Rose, who’s 85, to do it. He’s unbelievable.’
It’s time for a drive. Frank Gardner would have climbed into XOO with less effort, without a roll-cage to restrict his entry, though the ’shell was at least strengthened with an extra crossmember in the floor
‘SURPRISING, AND REMARKABLE EVEN FOR A RACE CAR, IS HOW FLAT THE ESCORT REMAINS THROUGH CORNERS’
Above and below
Brand new 1840cc twin-cam puts out 202bhp and revs to 8500rpm; the new car (on right) meets XOO – the racer that’s rather more than mere inspiration.
behind the driver and another in the roof over the driver. I strap in, flick on the ignition, push the starter button and am initially shocked at the noise and vibration through the body. Of course, this is a proper race car, not some pastiche, and the twin-cam engine is sitting on near-solid mounts. It sounds great!
The pedal box and deep-dish steering wheel are exactly as Gardner specified for XOO. The clutch needs a firm push but it’s progressive enough not to cause embarrassment as we exit the paddock to the familiar whine of straight-cut teeth in the classic ‘Bullet’ four-speed gearbox. The steering is heavy initially, thanks to those wide Dunlop Post-Historic tyres on the correct Elektron Magnesium-style aluminium-alloys (13x8in at the front, 13x9in at the rear).
The unservo’d brakes are solid discs all round, just as on XOO, and they need a hefty shove while the pads are cold but bite progressively harder on every lap. The new Twin Cam engine is an absolute gem, revving to 8500rpm and sounding glorious with it, prompting instructor/minder Karl Jones in the passenger seat to shout ‘It’s just so real isn’t it!’ on almost every lap.
But he’s right. I can’t claim to have got anywhere close to finding the limits of this amazing car but it is wonderfully real. Gearchanges can’t be snatched thoughtlessy; if they are, there’s just the slightest crunch from the gearbox as a reminder to slow it down, feel through the gears and to heel-and-toe a little throttle blip on every downchange. Do it properly and you can feel the cogs intermeshing through the palm of your hand, in the same way that the steering wheel lets you know exactly what’s happening.
Left, from top Simple body-shape hides impressive complexity; modern racing seats among safety improvements; detailing is perfect in its total authenticity.
What’s initially surprising, and then remarkable even for a race car, is how flat the Escort remains through the corners. And the grip from the rear is impressive, with none of the axle tramp or movement you’d get in a fast-road Escort. That’s down to the fully adjustable five-link set-up, suspended on torsion bars to save weight and space. Gardner would have been on the limit in every corner in XOO, perfecting the legendary balance of the rear-wheel-drive Escort through the throttle. This car understeers initally before it oversteers – but it never snaps, never takes you by surprise.
‘The original is a bit softer, using no roll-cage,’ says Henry, ‘and it’s not quite as powerful, because modern oils, modern piston rings and because machining precision are all better these days. The flow of the cylinder head is probably better as well. But other than that, they’re very similar. They did like it a bit softer in the day; you look at the pictures, he [Gardner] is cocking the front wheel and sat down on his wheelarch, which for a fast, smooth track is OK, but for this place, we’ve stiffened it up a bit in the back because it’s got tight corners.’
The thought of 24 of these continuations is exciting enough, but there’s still more to this project: the next stage is the production of Ford-sanctioned Escort Mk1 RS ‘continumods’ built to the same style as the race cars but fully Type Approved and civilised for road use. Being authentic continuations with an approved chassis number from Ford, there’ll be no need for donor vehicles.
The Mk1 RS road cars will be offered with a choice of original-type Twin Cam and four-speed ‘Bullet’ gearbox or a modern four-cylinder with near-300bhp mated to a five-speed transmission. Prices will start at £295,000, which gives you an inkling as to how much an Alan Mann 68 Edition will cost – think of the added work, exclusivity and track support, and you can guarantee it’ll be significantly more.
So, the most exciting new Fords for years? We thought so even before driving the Alan Mann 68 Edition. Now? We’re convinced.
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THE OCTANE INTERVIEW
This engineer, designer and racer is best known for the Shelby Daytona Coupe but there is so much more to his life and career – from hot rods to hang gliders
Words Mark Dixon Main portrait Evan Klein Archive images Peter & Gayle Brock
Pete Brock
MOST OF US are content if we find our niche and become really good at one thing. Pete Brock, however, mastered several disciplines: car design, engineering, race car driving, journalism – and hang gliding. Even more annoyingly, he’s a really nice guy.
Brock comes from a generation that has now almost disappeared. A long-time resident of Nevada with his wife Gayle, Brock grew up in car-crazy California during the 1940s and early ’50s. ‘At the age of 11 or 12 I got the chance to hang out at a ’shop in Sausalito with an amazing French fabricator called Nadeau Bourgeault, who was building a special,’ he recalls. ‘We could barely communicate but eventually he invited me to hop into this beautiful car and we drove all around Marin County. It was the first time I’d seen anyone steering a car with the throttle as much as with the wheel.’
Even now, some 75 years later, Brock gets emotional talking about this formative experience, as he does when recalling other people that shaped his life and career. ‘My neighbour and the young mechanics at the ’shop were racing MGs, so I started going to the races with them. It influenced my whole thinking about what I should be doing. I always wanted to be a racer more than a car designer.’
However, having enrolled at Stanford to study engineering, he quickly became disenchanted. When he heard about the ArtCenter School in Southern California that taught automobile design, he drove down there and unofficially sat in on a few classes,
then went to the office to see if he could enrol. ‘They said I had to bring in my portfolio – I had no idea what that was! When they explained, I went out to my car in the parking lot and spent a couple of hours sketching designs in a three-ring binder. They relented and said that if I lasted a few weeks, they’d let me stay.’
Initially, the young Brock’s passions were MGs and hot rods. ‘I bought my first car when I was 14, a 1949 MG TC with a blown engine, and the guys at the shop helped me to put it together.’ By 1953 his skills had developed to the point that he won a trophy at the hugely important Oakland Roadster Show with his ‘El Mirage’ chopped and channelled 1946 Ford convertible, powered by a Cadillac V8 engine.
Up-and-coming General Motors designer Chuck Jordan noticed Brock while on a visit to scout for future talent at ArtCenter. But Brock’s parents disapproved of him having given up engineering and cut off his allowance, which meant he couldn’t finish school.
‘I called Chuck to explain the situation, and he said “Get to the airport on Monday and there’ll be a return ticket for you to come to an interview.” I was 19 and that’s how it started.’
In 1957, Brock was one of the youngest stylists at GM and he quickly found it a very political place to work. ‘Everything was so secretive there. No one was supposed to know about the new Corvette project but there was a hardcore of “true believer” car guys and I went to see their work in private garages. I made a point of going where stuff was happening.
‘When I tried to enrol at the ArtCenter School, they said I had to bring in my portfolio – I had no idea what that was!’
‘Zora’s [lead engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov’s] car, the SS Corvette prototype, was the big secret project in 1957. Myself and three other designers took a couple of Corvette Fuelies to Sebring in ’57 to see it being tested. Moss and Fangio both tried it out but, because GM management wouldn’t allow Zora to use disc brakes, the brakes faded to nothing after three laps and so they refused to sign up.’
It was a chance encounter with styling chief Harley Earl that helped Brock make his mark. ‘Harley was very above everybody; he would walk the halls with his lieutenants either side, and he would only communicate through them,’ Brock explains. ‘However, he would also go around the studios at night when everyone had gone home, and I was there when he came in one night. He turned out to be the nicest guy
Clockwise, from top
The teenage Pete Brock’s 1953 kustom ‘El Mirage’; racing his Cooper, aged 21; driving to Sebring in a Corvette Fuelie, 1957; trying to win GM’s top brass over to compacts with the young designers’ own Karmann-Ghias; shaping the Shelby Daytona Coupe; his 1958 Cadet student’s car.
you could imagine. He became a close mentor to me – him and me, the 19-year-old kid! – and he would ask my opinions. I told him that GM was going in the wrong direction with its chrome-laden barges and we should be looking at what was happening with the European imports. A whole group of us designers, including me, had bought Karmann-Ghias and one day we parked all six of them in front of management’s offices!
‘I also said we should build a car for students that cost just 1000 dollars – so he put me in charge of what became the Cadet project, in 1957-58.’ Unfortunately, the Cadet (pictured below) was considered by GM top brass as being just too small to be worth making. Meanwhile, Bill Mitchell had replaced Harley Earl as GM’s chief stylist.
‘Bill Mitchell was completely different from Harley,’ explains Brock. ‘He wanted to be part of the design group, he was an enthusiast for racing, he had motorcycles – a top guy. He was very much a leader, although he never touched a pencil himself. But he knew what he wanted and had the style that I think created the greatest period in US automotive design.
‘Bill had been massively influenced by the little aerodynamic streamliners he’d seen at the 1957 Turin auto show and he wanted to use them as the theme for a relaunched Corvette. When I told him about seeing the SS run at Sebring, he asked us to come up with some ideas based on photos he’d taken in Turin.
‘A few days later, he came back, looked at all the sketches pinned up on the wall and asked “Who did this one?” When I put my hand up,
‘Harley Earl became a close mentor to me, a 19-year-old kid, and he would ask my opinions’
he told all the designers to see if they could improve on it. Again, he came back a little later and, again, he picked my sketch out. It still exists: my 1957 sketch that became the ’63 Corvette. The only thing he really changed was to add the split rear window.’
Remarkably, however, Brock still wanted to be a racing driver rather than a car designer, so he left GM when he was 21, bought a works Cooper ‘Manx’ and moved back to California. ‘While racing it at Palm Springs, I found myself next to Max Balchowsky, who had built a super-competitive special called Old Yeller. We became friends and I moved my car over to his ’shop, where I worked for nothing in return for free garaging and his help when I needed it.
‘Carroll Shelby had just come back to the US after winning Le Mans and he borrowed Max’s car for two or three races. I went straight from working at Max’s ’shop to Shelby’s driving school in 1961, and then Shelby American started in ’62, so I was Shelby’s first employee.’
Brock’s design skills proved extremely useful in developing the Shelby Cobra into a true rival for Ferrari’s 250 GTO by creating an aerodynamic coupé body that helped it to top 190mph. The Shelby Daytona Coupe duly took the GT class win at Le Mans in 1964. Brock, however, left Shelby Racing at the end of the ’65 season. ‘Ford had seen that the real reason Shelby was winning was because of his team, so they gave him the GT40 contract – and there was no room for me. I went to work for the big Japanese truck and bus manufacturer, Hino.
‘Within Hino there was a small group of guys who were racers, and they wanted to bring Hino to the States. A contact in Japan called Bob Dunham suggested they send a car over that I could hop-up and race; after I did pretty well with that, they shipped over a couple of their latest 1300cc Contessa sedans.
‘At that time the biggest-money race in the world was the LA Times Grand Prix at Riverside, which attracted huge crowds. When
the organisers invited the California Sports Car Club to put on an opener for the main event, they laid on a production sedan race, a kind of “run what ya brung”. I built a couple of stroker motors for those two Hinos and ran away from the field. When I pulled into Victory Circle, it was lined with a solid crowd of Japanese! That led to me getting a fat contract to be Hino’s US distributor and race car developer. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven.’
Sadly, however, events overtook him. Toyota bought out Hino, thereby wiping out the latter’s car business. It looked as though there might yet be a silver lining, when Brock was contracted to race Toyota’s new 2000GT, but fate had other ideas. ‘Shelby got to hear about it and used his fame to persuade Toyota to give the deal to him instead.’
The 1960s had been a fertile time for Brock’s race car imagination, resulting in stunning, futuristic machines such as the De Tomaso P70 displayed at the 1965 Turin auto show, and the 1967 Toyota JP6 and the Hino Samurai, with its adjustable aerofoil (above). There was even an elegant rebody and straight-six conversion
of Triumph’s TR4, dubbed TR 250K, which British Leyland found far too sexy for its tastes.
In the end, however, it was humbler fare that brought success to Brock Racing Enterprises, set up in 1965. His contact at Hino pulled strings with a friend at Nissan that led to Brock being given two new Datsun 2000 sports cars to race in the US. ‘I asked how the hell he’d managed that and it turned out he’d been at school with Nissan’s chairman of the board!’ laughs Brock. ‘From that, and my subsequent friendship with the president of Datsun North America, came the 240Z programme and all that followed.’ It included winning four national championships, two with the Zs and two with the 2.5 TransAm Datsun sedans, all finished in BRE’s red, white and blue striped livery.
BRE Datsuns were also regular entrants in the Baja 1000 desert races, Brock himself finishing in fourth place just behind Erik Carlsson in 1969. But then he gave up racing in favour of a new passion. ‘I saw a bunch of hippies launching themselves off the sand dunes at El Segundo under hang gliders made of bamboo with a plastic wing. They invited me
Clockwise, from lower left Stunning Hino Samurai was axed by Toyota; Brock with TransAm Championship-winning Datsun 510s; hang gliding business really took off.
to try one and it was a life-changing experience, more fun than anything I’d ever done.’
So Brock went back to his workshop and built a more high-tech hang glider from aluminium tubes and sail-cloth. ‘We became the number one hang glider manufacturer in the world, winning six out of seven world championships, but the sport grew so popular that people were getting killed and companies were being sued. I couldn’t afford to have that happen, so I sold up.’
A period of teaching at the ArtCenter School was followed by yet another career writing books and producing race reports for magazines, and more recently by designing and productionising an aerodynamic covered car transporter called the Aerovault. Several hundred have been sold since its debut in 2008.
But what does the 88-year-old Pete Brock, who inspired one of the all-time great Corvettes nearly 70 years ago, think about the latest generation? ‘Well, it’s a little busy for me in terms of aesthetics,’ he chuckles, ‘but it’s a fabulous car, the best buy in the world right now.’ High praise, indeed.
Age of Innocenti
For a brief spell in the 1960s, an Italian company built a distinctly Continental-looking coupé based on unlikely British underpinnings. Glen Waddington discovers the Innocenti C
Photography Lee Brimble
‘IT LOOKS A bit like a Facellia. That’s shrunk a bit.’ Cue derisive chortling from editor James Elliott. And fair enough. But there’s something distinctly, well, European about this engaging little car. And when you discover what it’s based on, that air of apparent sophistication is perhaps surprising. Because beneath the faintly exotic metalwork sit the underpinnings of the Austin-Healey Sprite, a fabulous little roadster that, to us Brits, offers rather less of the cosmopolitan appeal of this car.
That’s not to knock the Sprite, of course: if it hadn’t had so much to offer, there’s no way we’d be discussing it now. And the story of how an Italian manufacturer that had built its success on the Lambretta scooter came to put together a tiny number of coupés around British mechanical components is surely worth exploring.
Needless to say, the Sprite itself is an object lesson in how to conjure a tasty recipe from humble ingredients. Launched in 1958 as a low-cost roadster that ‘a chap could keep in his bike shed’, it arrived wearing a distinctive single-piece clamshell bonnet with integrated headlamps, which earned it (affectionately) the ‘Frogeye’ nickname (‘Bugeye’ in the US). It was intended as a more modern successor to decades of tuned, lightweight Austin Sevens, and was designed by the Donald Healey Motor Company, a few years after the pioneering, larger Austin-Healey 100, using proprietary BMC parts such as the Morris Minor’s brilliantly direct rack-and-pinion steering and a tuned, twin-carb version of the Austin A-series engine. It was produced at MG’s Abingdon factory and the badge-engineered MG Midget joined it in 1961.
Over in Italy, Ferdinando Innocenti was born the son of a Tuscany blacksmith in 1891 and made his fortune with contracts from Mussolini’s war ministry, his factories responsible for 17% of the country’s wartime output. What to do come peacetime? Supported by government grants, in 1947 he launched the Lambretta scooter, named after the Lambrate district of Milan where it was built, and which became the transport of many a penurious post-war Italian.
Innocenti Sr died in 1966, having given way to his son Luigi, who had become vice-president of the company in 1958 and diversified into car production, first making parts and press tools for the likes of Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Ford, Lancia and VW. Then came an opportunity to build complete cars.
Keen for a slice of the burgeoning Italian market for small cars, BMC sought collaboration. An agreement was signed in 1959 and in 1960 Innocenti began building licensed versions of the Austin A40. The company made a few local modifications to these Innocenti-Austin badged cars, and it soon sought to diversify a little further. The Innocenti
Spider, in effect a re-bodied Austin-Healey Sprite MkII (the version that sired the first of that series of MG Midgets) styled by Ghia and built by OSI, was launched at the Turin motor show in 1960.
The new bodywork was commissioned largely because the Italians thought the Frogeye might be rather too, er, characterful for their market, and thus began the first complete car project for young American stylist Tom Tjaarda, who had recently joined Carrozzeria Ghia. OSI – Officine Stampaggi Industriale – which built the bodies for the Sprite underpinnings, was founded in 1960 by Ghia president Luigi Segre and Arrigo Olivetti, whose Fergat company made automotive components. It was intended to build small-run projects for Ghia, so the relationship with Innocenti (the Spider was one of its first contracts) was an obvious step. Production began in 1961; at its height a year later, they were churning out 13 cars per day, and nearly 7000 were built during a fouryear period, sold mainly in Italy and the USA.
A 1098cc version of the A-series engine arrived in 1963 and, thus uprated, the Spider became the Spider S. There were also Italian versions
of the BMC 1100 saloon and, from 1965, the Mini, including the Mini Cooper. And then came this car, the Innocenti C.
The Spider’s appeal had begun to wane, only 2000 of those 7000 sales being of the ‘S’ version, and it’s reckoned by some that the advent of the coupé version was an expedient way of making use of the mechanical parts BMC had already sent Innocenti’s way. Yet the C was by no means a simple case of welding a hardtop to the Spider’s pretty (and dainty) roadster body.
This time around, Sergio Sartorelli was employed. He was an ex-Ghia man who had joined in 1957 and left when Luigi Segre died in 1963, a highlight during his time there being a collaboration with Tjaarda, developing the razor-edge version of the VW Karmann-Ghia. He became director of OSI’s Centro Stile e Esperienze in 1965.
Perhaps a little of that Volkswagen is visible in the Innocenti C’s proportions; there’s certainly a touch of the razor-edge in its rear wing lines, even if the Facel Vega reference is stretching things a bit. In terms of
natural rivals, Innocenti was quite bullish, especially considering the C’s compact nature and its 1.1-litre engine, pricing it a little above Fiat’s 850 Sport Coupé and the Fiat-Abarth 695 SS, though well below the Alfa Romeo GT 1300 Junior and Lancia Fulvia Coupé 1.3. It was certainly far more exclusive than any of those, with a total of only 795 built during a two-year production run that began in 1966.
It shares most mechanical components, bonnet, doors and bootlid with the Spider but the rest of the body is unique, being 4in wider overall and 6in longer, with wheelbase and track both stretched by 2in, necessitating a longer propshaft. At 770kg, it’s fully 75kg heavier than the Spider, so the promise of its 1.1-litre A-series – even on twin SUs and pumping out 58bhp – is rather modest. Yet there’s sophistication here that was unavailable on its British donor, including wind-up windows, and the firewall is moved forwards in comparison, granting greater interior space. The seats are set lower in the C than in the Spider, making the most of available headroom.
1969 Innocenti C
Engine 1097cc OHV four-cylinder, two SU HS2 carburettors
Power 58bhp @ 5750rpm Torque 62lb ft @ 3250rpm
Transmission Four-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Steering Rack and pinion Suspension Front: double wishbones, coil springs, telescopic dampers. Rear: Live axle, quarter-elliptic leaf springs, lever-arm dampers
Brakes Discs front, drums rear Weight 770kg
Top speed 90mph 0-60mph 17.2sec
Clockwise, from opposite Wider, longer than a Sprite, though still tiny; preceding Innocenti Spiders outside the factory in Milan; aerial view could be that of a larger car; plentiful roll yet engaging road behaviour.
‘You find yourself bimbling along on the torque, though the A-series will rev easily towards 5000rpm’
Left, above and right
Familiar and burbly A-series here in 1097cc twin-carb form; homegrown interior shares some BMC details but feels a world away from a Sprite’s; pretty and pert in profile.
Italy’s Sprite Innocenti
In fact, it’s the C’s low, broad proportions that initially make it seem far less tiny than it actually is: it’s only 6in longer than the diminutive Sprite, after all. You need a human for scale, and watching owner Jeremy Wilson manoeuvring the car into position for the photographer makes you realise just how much of its interior he takes up. Mind you, he’s a good 6ft tall and fits fine. ‘I’ve driven it across France,’ he says. ‘It’s a bit noisy and realistically you cruise at 60mph or so, but it’s absolutely at home on oldfashioned D-roads and surprisingly comfortable, too.’
Jeremy is a serial owner of unusual cars; the Innocenti shares garage space with a Maserati Khamsin and the Matra Djet that appeared in Octane 250. ‘I’ve had it a little over ten years. Mechanical spares are mostly easy to get, you simply ring a specialist such as A-H Spares, and the guys there always like to come out for a look at it. Even though the CKD kit came from Austin-Healey, there was an onus to use local suppliers where sensible and so, in addition to the bodywork, there are further differences, such as the airbox, radiator, the Marelli heater box and most of the electrics. Brightwork and lights are Italian, too.’
Inside, once again the C is as per the later Spiders, with a very Italianlooking dashboard that’s replete with the main Veglia dials shared with most Innocentis, plus supplementary gauges ranged centre-dash that look distinctly Ferrari-esque. The seats are Innocenti’s own, for which Jeremy managed to source original basket-weave vinyl, and the chromed tubular door-pulls are fabulous. Other door furniture, such as handles
and winders, is Italian-sourced, and so is the steering wheel. Otherwise you’re looking at the same Austin A40 steering column and its switchgear, and the usual Austin gearlever and knob.
Time to head out onto the road, mindful of how low the exhaust is to the ground, and that having only one person on board causes the car to list to that side. It seems as though you’re sitting just a couple of inches above the tarmac (because you are!) but plentiful glazing means it feels surprisingly airy in here. You insert your legs into the lengthy footwell, rather as you would in the British version, but the more distant firewall makes a big difference to your relationship with the dashboard, and that extra width is noticeable. It feels like a proper little coupé, rather than a toy car made real.
The starter motor cranks with that familiar bark before the little fourcylinder settles to a chuntering, blustery idle. Naturally, it’s left-handdrive (this car was originally registered in Italy in 1969 and imported into the UK from Belgium in 2005) and yet, although you’re using the ‘wrong’ hand, the gearshift feels reassuringly familiar, being precise, tight and graunch-free in its movements. There’s little in the way of transmission whine as you pull away in first, noticing a gentle blooming of pace rather than meaningful acceleration; second, third and fourth follow quickly, each involving a neat and easy movement, and you find yourself bimbling along on the torque, though the A-series will rev easily towards 5000rpm, remaining gravelly in its note yet always enthusiastic.
What’s surprising is how different it feels from the Sprite (and Midget) it’s so closely related to. Not so Italian in its nature, but not necessarily archetypically British either, it’s a fun little car that looks elegant and poised and drives with greater refinement than you’ve any right to expect, especially in terms of ride comfort. The little Innocenti feels softly sprung but deftly damped, soaking up the worst of the road surface yet never feeling far from it.
The steering is as direct as you’d expect of anything with a Morris Minor rack, and is easily one of the most engaging aspects of the driving experience. There’s plenty of travel in the brake pedal, but also decent retardation. It’s a balanced-feeling car, no single aspect of it overwhelming any other. As a kit of parts on which to base its own car, Innocenti could clearly have chosen much worse.
It’s perhaps fair to say that eventually it did. After Innocenti Sr’s death, Innocenti seemed to lose its way a little. Already closely involved, in 1972 British Leyland paid £3million for the company, hoping to double its sales from the 56,452 the year before. The British company’s financial
controller Geoffrey Robinson persuaded Donald Stokes that he was the man for the job and moved to Milan, thereafter granting the restyling of the Innocenti Mini by Bertone (it was a slightly wedgy hatchback long before the arrival of the Mini Metro in 1980) and foisting the Innocenti Regent (a rebadged Allegro) on the Italian public. Sales dropped and BL withdrew, leaving Innocenti in the hands of a certain Alejandro de Tomaso from 1976.
De Tomaso tried to rescue the situation by wrapping the Inni-Mini body around Daihatsu mechanicals, but Fiat took over in 1990, ceased production of Innocenti’s own cars in 1993, and in 1996 announced the end of the company.
It was a sad end to a car maker built on high hopes set on a solid string of pragmatism: Austin mechanicals and exotic Italian coachwork for the common man. Possibly an even more enticing recipe than the original Austin-Healey Sprite.
THANKS TO owner Jeremy Wilson.
Italy’s Sprite Innocenti
IN THE SPOTLIGHT, HCVA MEMBER:
WILLIAM HEYNES
FOR NEARLY eight decades, the name Heynes has been inextricably linked with Jaguar. It began with the visionary Chief Engineer Bill Heynes, whose revolutionary XK engine became the marque’s lifeblood for an astounding 35 years. Now, two generations later, Bill’s grandson William Heynes and his dedicated team carry that torch forward. ey passionately service, meticulously preserve and respectfully restore Jaguars from that golden era.
William Heynes Ltd specialises in early E-types. Established in August 2021, the business has already experienced an extraordinary tenfold expansion. Testament to the company’s skill and dedication, its workshops currently house a number of signi cant E-types undergoing restoration, including the historically important chassis numbers 008, 035 and similar pre xes.
And now William Heynes Ltd is bringing XK engine rebuilds inhouse. is exciting development signi es a renewed commitment to breathing fresh life into every aspect of the iconic XK lineage –and on the horizon is the exciting prospect of the Heynes 5.0-litre XK engine, promising a thrilling new chapter in the XK story.
Each Jaguar arrives with its own unique story. Recognising this individuality, William Heynes Ltd pays every vehicle bespoke a ention, considering its history, provenance, and preservation a ributes. Above all, the ambition is to forge a collaborative partnership with each customer, ensuring the nal result is a Jaguar they will adore and connect with on a personal level.
Beyond exceptional service and restoration, the company takes pride in o ering comprehensive support to enthusiasts. From expert purchase advice and detailed reports to seamless transportation and secure storage, it is a true partner in the world of classic Jaguars. William Heynes Ltd stands as a vital custodian of Jaguar’s illustrious past, ensuring that the spirit and beauty of these magni cent machines continue to captivate for generations to come.
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Autohistoric: specialists in the preservation and restoration of veteran and vintage vehicles.
+44 (0)1825 873636 www.autohistoric.co.uk
Buga i Owners’ Club and Presco Speed Hill Climb: championing motorsport and hillclimbing since 1929. +44 (0)1242 673136 www.presco hillclimb.co.uk
Harding Auto Services: 1920s to modern day, road, race and custom. +44 (0)1483 487626 hardingautos.co.uk
Hot topic
SPECIALIST PROTECTION
Sustainability is a hot topic, whether it’s sustainable fuels, electric conversions, reducing energy consumption or minimising waste. Less apparent but just as vital is ensuring that the network of specialist historic vehicle businesses, with their vast skills and knowledge, can survive and thrive.
Successful automotive businesses are created and developed with great energy and e ort to build their reputations. Trust is an especially important consideration for owners and enthusiasts seeking reassurance that their vehicle is entrusted to a business that shares their passion and can meet their needs. They are buying into the accumulated skills and knowledge of that business.
Specialist businesses are o en built upon the reputation of one or two founders or key people and their knowledge and connections. But if they were removed from the equation, could that business still maintain its market, client base and brand?
Businesses and owners readily take out insurance to protect against damage and the , but we should all think about the consequences if something happened and you couldn’t carry on working. That means having training, succession planning and protections in place, creating a sustainable future so that, should the unexpected happen, the business is protected and can carry on seamlessly.
The HCVA supports its industry members in many ways, including connecting the community of like-minded businesses across the alliance. The membership includes insurers and specialist law firms who provide advice and assistance to our members to help ensure they have the required policies, procedures and documentation in place for e ective business continuity.
We will always raise awareness that sustainability for our industry means more than simply ge ing the foundations right. A thriving business community planning e ectively for the future will be best placed to deliver for the UK historic and classic vehicle sector in the years ahead.
The HCVA welcomes all businesses and individuals with an interest in shaping the future of our sector to join us at www.hcva.co.uk.
Dale Keller, CEO
Octane Cars
The trials and tribulations of the cars we live with
French revolutions
2000 Honda Integra Type R Matthew Hayward
I REALISED THE other day that it’s been just over five years since I placed a particularly determined Collecting Cars bid on the Type R. I did very little research, didn’t view the car and barely had enough money to cover it, but it turned out to be one of the best car-related decisions I’ve ever made. I’ve savoured every mile behind the wheel, yet all of them had been within the UK. Until now.
The decision as to where else to go was made nice and simple thanks to a recent invitation for an overnight stay in France from the team at LeShuttle. As the car hadn’t been on the road since last year, I gave it a quick service with fresh oil, a general check-over and, with a full tank of 99 octane, it was ready to go.
I set off from home at about 6am on the Thursday morning and it was a relatively pain-free 160-mile drive to Folkestone.
My arrival was more than an hour ahead of the scheduled meeting time so I headed straight for the FlexiPlus lounge, with plenty of time to fuel-up on croissants and coffee while waiting for the rest of the cohort to arrive.
The instant the Honda’s long front overhang poked out of the carriage on the other side of the Channel, I was greeted by crisp blue skies and a warm 23ºC breeze: an immediate mood enhancer. Our first destination was La Matelote, our hotel for the night and a lovely little place on the seafront in Boulogne. After the short 20-minute jaunt down the autoroute from Calais, the
This page and opposite An invitation from LeShuttle was the perfect opportunity for a foray into northern France and a visit to the WW1 memorial at Thiepval in the Integra.
cars were deposited – in rather satisfying individual car garages – so that we could explore the old town on foot. It was the first time I’d visited the area since I went on a secondary school trip over 20 years ago and I was certainly more appreciative of the town’s fascinating Roman history this time. Capping off the day was a glorious Michelin-starred meal. With a FlexiPlus ticket for return on the Friday, I had the whole day to play with and no real timetable – but a simple goal to visit The Somme while staying off the autoroutes. I pointed Google Maps to the World War One memorial at Thiepval and meandered my way through the countryside.
Driving in France always feels like a breath of fresh air compared
to the crowded UK, and within about five minutes I was totally relaxed. The villages range from pretty to downright beautiful, the roads are peaceful and perfectly surfaced, and you still see the occasional automotive rarity. Old-car highlight of this trip had to be a field full of Fiat Cromas!
Stopping off at some of the war graves along the route, I took time to look around the museum at Thiepval before walking up to see the impressive memorial at the top of the hill. It’s impossible not to be moved, and I appreciated its significance a lot more than the last time I visited.
Enjoyable as the drive down was, it had eaten into the day considerably, so I opted to head back via the autoroute. You might think the revvy Honda would feel
OCTANE’S FLEET
These are the cars –and ’bikes – run by Octane’s staff and contributors
JAMES ELLIOTT
Editor-in-chief
• 1965 Triumph 2.5 PI
• 1968 Jensen Interceptor
• 1969 Lotus Elan S4
ROBERT COUCHER
Founding editor
• 1955 Jaguar XK140
GLEN WADDINGTON
Associate editor
• 1989 BMW 320i Convertible
• 1999 Porsche Boxster
SANJAY SEETANAH
Advertising director
• 1981 BMW 323i Top Cabrio
• 1998 Aston Martin DB7 Volante
• 2007 Mercedes-Benz SLK200
MARK DIXON
Contributing editor
• 1927 Alvis 12/50
• 1927 Ford Model T pick-up
• 1942 Fordson Model N tractor
• 1955 Land Rover Series I 107in
ROBERT HEFFERON
Art editor
• 2004 BMW Z4 3.0i
DAVID LILLYWHITE
Editorial director
• 1971 Saab 96
less at home here, but it’s perfectly happy cruising at 130km/h and you soon get into a groove with it. Visiting Cité Europe on the way home is a family tradition, so I indulged myself – and, after buying a 1:43 model Peugeot 405 in the fabulous model shop, I stocked up on a few essentials from the wine and cheese aisles of Carrefour.
After jumping on the next available train, the jolt back to reality was severe as I hit traffic on the M20 in Kent. You also really notice the potholed, absolutely shambolic road surfaces in the UK after a few hours in Europe! Despite all that, the car performed perfectly, as expected, aside from developing an occasional chirp from the air-con belt. More on that another time.
MATTHEW HOWELL
Photographer
• 1962 VW Beetle 1600
• 1969 VW/Subaru Beetle
• 1982 Morgan 4/4
BEN BARRY
Contributor
• 2007 Mazda RX-8
MASSIMO DELBÒ
Contributor
• 1967 Mercedes-Benz 230
• 1972 Fiat 500L
• 1975 Alfa Romeo GT Junior
• 1979/80 Range Rovers
• 1982 Mercedes-Benz 500SL
• 1985 Mercedes-Benz 240TD
SAM CHICK
Photographer
• 1969 Alfa Romeo Spider
ROWAN ATKINSON
Contributor
• 2004 Rolls-Royce Phantom
ANDREW RALSTON
Contributor
• 1955 Ford Prefect
• 1968 Jaguar 240
SAM CHICK
Photographer
• 1969 Alfa Romeo Spider
RICHARD HESELTINE
Contributor
• 1966 Moretti 850 Sportiva
• 1971 Honda Z600
PETER BAKER
Contributor
• 1954 Daimler Conquest
• 1955 Daimler Conquest Century
• 2005 Maserati 4200GT
• 2008 Alfa Romeo Brera Prodrive SE
DAVID BURGESS-WISE
Contributor
• 1924 Sunbeam 14/40
• 1926 Delage DISS
MATTHEW HAYWARD
Markets editor
• 1990 Citroën BX 16v
• 1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four
• 1996 Saab 9000 Aero
• 1997 Citroën Xantia Activa
• 1997 Peugeot 306 GTI-6
• 2000 Honda Integra Type R
• 2002 Audi A2
JESSE CROSSE
Contributor
• 1968 Ford Mustang GT 390
• 1986 Ford Sierra RS Cosworth
MARTYN GODDARD
Photographer
• 1963 Triumph TR6SS Trophy
• 1965 Austin-Healey 3000 MkIII
DELWYN MALLETT
Contributor
• 1936 Cord 810 Beverly
• 1937 Studebaker Dictator
• 1946 Tatra T87
• 1950 Ford Club Coupe
• 1952 Porsche 356
• 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL
• 1957 Porsche Speedster
• 1957 Fiat Abarth Sperimentale
• 1963 Abarth-Simca
• 1963 Tatra T603
• 1973 Porsche 911 2.7 RS
• 1992 Alfa Romeo SZ
EVAN KLEIN
Photographer
• 1974 Alfa Romeo Spider
• 2001 Audi TT
HARRY METCALFE
Contributor
• 20 cars and 15 motorbikes
To follow Harry’s adventures, find Harry’s Garage on YouTube.
On the dilemma of a horn
1968 Jaguar 240 Andrew Ralston
FOR ONCE, THIS winter I managed a sensible compromise: warming the engine up every week or so and, on occasions when weather permitted, running a short local route that allowed a burst of speed over a few miles.
The result is that the Jaguar has emerged in the recent warmer weather without any problems and, as a result of Jaguar specialist Jamie Gibbon’s sterling work in rebuilding the carbs last autumn, it pulls away and accelerates without the slightest hiccup. The problem of uneven running that dogged the car for so long – and, I suspect, may even have been a reason behind the previous owner parting with it after spending so much cash restoring it – seems at last to have been overcome.
I also took advantage of the winter months to deal with a couple of annoying issues. The horn had a tendency to sound at random moments,which turned out to be a minor wiring problem and quickly sorted – just as well because, on the very next run, someone shot out of his driveway without looking exactly as the Jag rounded the corner.
The other issue concerned the speedometer. When I first bought the car, there was a clicking noise
from behind the dashboard and the first garage I took it to replaced the speedo cable. The clicking noise stopped but, after a while, so did the speedometer. Again, Jamie Gibbon came to the rescue and fitted a temporary replacement while the original was sent for reconditioning by Speedograph Richfield of Nottingham. Though it was stripped down and completely rebuilt, the speedometer retains its original reading of 46,663 miles (as pictured above). Cost: a reasonable £175.
These two repairs were done just in time, as the next challenge looming is the MoT. Other jobs to be undertaken include the non-functioning period radio and the heater. I find the sound of a Jaguar engine more pleasant than the chatter on a radio station and, as lengthy winter journeys are
unlikely, heating isn’t vital. Similarly, I am relying on a mirror fitted to the quarterlight frame, which creates a gap in the rubber seal and causes wind noise. A better solution is desirable but, although wing mirrors are period features, I think they spoil the Jaguar’s smooth curves. These are minor matters, however. As far as the things that really count are concerned, LUX 130F is raring to go. There are unforeseen encounters and conversations to look forward to, not to mention the entertainment to be derived from other people’s reactions to the car. The other day it was parked near Glasgow Cathedral, and it was amusing to watch a Spanish tour guide valiantly delivering his commentary on the building while the attention of half of his group was distracted by the car!
Current situation
1965 Triumph 2.5 PI
James Elliott
I’D NOTICED A while back that the Triumph would take a while before the charging kicked in. It had always taken a few seconds until it registered on the dial, but now it could be a full minute. Once it finally showed, though, everything was hunky dory.
Symptom two came a bit later, when the needle on the dial started to oscillate wildly, always positive and showing a charge but jumping about like a flea on speed, which was very much out of character. A quick test with the multimeter proved the battery was receiving a very healthy charge so I ignored it.
Symptom three was when the alternator packed up.
I ordered a fresh one from Chris Witor and it turned up a week later. Nice job, an alternator swap: doesn’t take long, bolt-off, bolt-on, same sense of satisfaction as much more tricky and time-consuming works. But has any item embraced built-in obsolescence with quite the same enthusiasm as alternators? I reckon the first one on the Triumph did 20 years (just in my ownership and probably another
decade before that) and since then they are doing well if they last two years, even if nothing else is going on to accelerate their demise. Starter motors might rival them, I guess, especially high-torque ones.
Anyway, with the new alternator in place, I tested the charge to the battery and it was a pretty measly 12.5V, rising with revs but not getting much above 12.75V. Naturally, I next tested the output at the terminal on the alternator and it was a reassuringly spot-on 13.8-14.2V.
So there is a drain somewhere. I spent a little time cleaning all the earths, terminals and connectors, but to no avail. Then I was distracted by other duties. To be fair, it’s not cramping my style much – the dial reads well, the low-charge warning light never comes on and it always seems to be pumping out comfortably more juice than the car is using –but some more multimeter time is definitely on the cards.
New alternator easily fitted, yet the charging rate still isn’t great.
Getting rid of the rumble
I GOT THE BMW back from Templeton’s Garage the night before my wife’s birthday. All set for a long weekend of beautiful weather and plans for a couple of days out, not least of which was a blast cross-country to the Suffolk coast: destination Aldeburgh for fish and chips, ice cream and a stomp along the pebbly beach in the sunshine. It’s a 220-mile round trip from my home in landlocked Northamptonshire, the first part an easy cruise along dual carriageways past Bury St Edmunds before diving onto the twisting and undulating A1120, then via Framlingham, after which the scenery flattens a little and you can smell the sea in the air.
As we set off, I spotted a parking display ticket in the tray by the gearlever. It turned out to be from our last trip to the coast, late last summer – which was the BMW’s last long drive. I’d kept it ticking over during the winter, but
‘I’m not yet able to enjoy the Alfa Spider because I need to order about $600-worth of parts and spend a week sorting it. Meanwhile, the 24-year-old Audi TT just works as it should’
Evan Klein
‘A class win at Prescott Hill Climb in my Alfa Brera (hooray!) is about to be followed by the Maserati 4200GT’s first MoT in my ownership (gulp). Fingers crossed’
Peter Baker
it was on that trip while driving home with the roof up that I realised a long-suspected hum had become loud enough to be a fairly major concern. In fact, it was singing pretty loudly.
Difficult to diagnose while driving as I couldn’t tell where it was coming from, but this was the sort of noise that rose and fell in pitch relative to road speed rather than engine speed. E30s whine and hiss a little in the transmission department anyway, but this was definitely out of the ordinary. Was the diff in need of attention?
All quiet on this trip, thankfully. In fact, remarkably so, which is an indication of just how much I’d got used to the problem. Home renovations and winter weather had got in the way of booking it in, but after Christmas I realised we weren’t far off MoT time, so in it went and passed without anything much of note. Happily, I’d checked all the lamps and
discovered there was a reversing light not working, easy to sort (reach into the boot, the housings clip in and out) and the bulbs were only £2 a pop for branded ones at my local motor factor.
But one thing that couldn’t be done at that time was to cure the noise, though Stuart Templeton had diagnosed it, at least: the driver’s side rear wheel-bearing. One was ordered and the car duly went back for its remedy.
As we munched our fish and chips then stuffed ourselves with ice cream, we contemplated our journey home and realised how much the drive itself was a part of our day out. With the roof down you become part of the surroundings and can enjoy the sounds and smells that come with them. And it’s such an easy-going car on a long drive, comfortable for the passenger and entertaining for the driver. I won’t be leaving it so long to the next day out.
‘I started the rat-look ’37 Studebaker, drove it a couple of yards –and found it no longer has brakes. Not sure yet whether that’s due to a fluid leak or a failed seal’ Delwyn Mallett
‘My convertible roof motor ground to a halt, a common problem with the BMW Z4. I removed the motor from its “waterproof” housing to find that it had been flooded!’
Robert Hefferon
‘Thought I’d take my Model T for a spin in the fine weather; needed a 10mm spanner first to reattach something fiddly; couldn’t find any of the several that I own. Only solution: pub’
Mark Dixon
1989 BMW 320i Convertible Glen Waddington
Left and above Top-down to Suffolk and back inevitably involved a coffee stop en route; reversing light easier to fix than the wheel-bearing.
Chassis No. 048 1991
XJR-15 RACE CAR
Based on the Le Mans winning Jaguar XJR-9 and powered by a naturally aspirated 6.0-litre Jaguar V12 engine, the XJR-15 was developed by Tom Walkinshaw of TWR, styled by Peter Stevens and precedes even the McLaren F1 as the world’s first road car constructed entirely from carbon fibre.
Originally delivered to the Chairman of Samsung, chassis 048 was raced to victory at Silverstone in the one-make, Jaguar Intercontinental Challenge by Juan Manuel Fangio II and the Jaguar XJR-S that was awarded as the prize for that win, is also included in the sale
Overdrive
Other interesting cars we’ve been driving
Soft-top but no soft option
APRIL IN THE eastern Alps. Green grandeur, exquisitely surfaced roads, the prospect of some excellent weather… well, maybe. But also rain at times, as it turns out. While in spring sunshine it’s only natural to go topless everywhere, that becomes more like a challenge when clouds threaten on the horizon. And when the rain hits, well, it’s time to test the 6.8sec capability of the roof to close (or open) at speeds up to 50km/h – or 31mph when you’re away from the Rossfeld Panoramastrasse and stuck in traffic on the main drag through Stoke-on-Trent.
Wherever you may happen to be, Aston Martin claims it’s the fastest electric folding convertible roof of any car on sale. Impressive stuff, though certain other figures may be of more interest to some. Outputs of 655bhp and 590lb ft mean the new Vantage Roadster is up by 30% on power and 15% in torque from the previous one and translate to a top speed of 202mph and 0-60mph in 3.5sec.
The Roadster was developed in tandem with the Coupé, which was launched a year ago, and it benefits from more legible TFT instrumentation (which existing Coupé owners can have as a
software upgrade) and a button that enables quick defeat of the mandatory driver-assistance nannying, such as lane centring.
The mechanical package is shared, so the quad exhaust, new cam profiles, higher compression ratio and bigger turbos for the AMG-sourced twin-turbo V8 are familiar, all calibrated in-house, and the latest-generation eight-speed ZF automatic transmission has been tweaked for sharper shifts. Small differences in suspension geometry and a slightly softer transmission mount are accounted for by the extra
60kg of hood mechanism and structural enhancements.
Over the old car, there’s a 30% increase in lateral stiffness between the rear suspension top mounts and a 10% increase up-front, for enhanced turn-in. Laminated glass is said to be worth its weight in improved refinement, further added to by an eight-layer hood. Much aerodynamic attention has been paid to reduce buffeting and draughts when driving with the roof down, too.
First impressions are that it’s super-slick. Marek Reichman’s styling tweaks give it greater
2025 Aston Martin Vantage Roadster Glen Waddington
presence, thanks to sharper corners, the larger front intake, 21in wheels, a much more prominent rear diffuser and fractionally greater overall width.
Inside, reflecting the Coupé, it’s all-change, with a much more elegant dashboard, exquisite materials and superb quality of finish. From every switch to the feel and sound of the door closing, this is up there with the best of mass-produced cars while maintaining the bespoke ambience of the most exclusive handbuilts. A class act.
Highback seats hold you in firm embrace as you adjust your position. Hit the button, the V8 rumbles instantly, revs snappily and you immediately feel engaged. Despite the aural encouragement, refinement levels are extremely high, which remains the case on the move, hood up or down. With the roof in place,
such are the structural rigidity and hermetic levels of enclosure that you might as well be in the Coupé. Roof down in the rain, stormy gusts of crosswind at motorway speeds might just see the odd drop land in your hair.
Of course, Aston’s sportiest mount is at its most interesting when the going gets a bit twistier. It shrinks the straights between corners like little else, dispatching distance with a cultured roar and some popping and banging from the exhaust on the over-run, though it lacks the steely vocal repertoire of older, naturally aspirated Astons. It certainly needs no more power, though, and braking is strong and progressive to match.
The Vantage is a substantial beast, weighing in around 1.7 tonnes and fully 7ft wide, and Aston Martin intended it to ‘breathe’ with the road surface.
Clockwise, from left You can drive top-down in comfort even when the weather is less summery; a real looker with the roof down; twin-turbo V8 good for 655bhp; a real looker with the roof up, too.
That means in ‘Sport’ or even ‘Sport+’ mode there’s genuine suppleness to the suspension settings and a surprising degree of body movement. Even so, thanks to excellent adjustable damping it manages the sensation of weight very well; certainly better than the sensation of width.
Beyond those settings is a ‘Track’ mode for circuit driving, where the adjustability on offer with an eight-mode traction control can be explored, too. Suffice to say that, on damp and slippery mountain passes, traction control is kept in its sticky setting, yet still the monstrous torque
easily overwhelms rear-end grip on more than one hairpin. Thankfully, the steering feels keyed-in and direct, turn-in is sharp and focused, and on these smooth roads there’s rarely any intrusiveness to the ride.
It’s extremely entertaining, deliberately more sporting than the larger, touring-biased DB12 yet still luxurious, and therefore the Vantage has achieved Aston Martin’s goal. Now, in Roadster form, you get the benefit of fresh air without the refinement drawbacks a soft-top sometimes brings. Prices will start from around £175,000.
‘It shrinks the straights, dispatching distance with a cultured roar ’
Twin Cam for the 21st Century
2025 Frontline MGA Factory Edition Mark Dixon
IT’S A TWIN CAM, Jim, but not as the MG factory at Abingdon ever knew it. This one is powered by the Mazda version of the Ford Duratec DOHC 2.0-litre engine, so you can safely forget about the original Twin Cam’s propensity to run too lean and hole a piston. It is, however, built just down the road from the site of the original MG factory, the other side of the A34, by those nice people at Frontline. The company has been updating and upgrading MGs since 1991 and is wellrespected for its many MGB conversions, but this is the first time they’ve tackled an ‘A’. Commissioned by a lady client, who spec’d every single detail to her own preference (and she clearly has excellent taste), it follows Frontline’s tried and tested formula: 2.0 or 2.5 Duratec – this car has the 2.0-litre – mated to a Mazda five-speed gearbox that in turn drives an MGB tube axle with Quaife limited-slip diff. Power and torque outputs are 225bhp/178lb ft and 290bhp/ 243lb ft respectively, with quoted 0-60mph times of 4.8 and 4.1sec.
However, as Frontline’s sales and marketing director Conner Matthews explains, the MGA wasn’t built to be a hot-rod roadburner. It’s more about adding usable performance and modern reliability while keeping the aesthetics pretty much stock. Externally, the LED headlights with their integrated outer rings of side- and indicator lights are the main giveaway – although you can always retain the glow-worm originals, should you prefer. Access to the cockpit – which has been built to suit its notably petite new owner, resulting in a fixed seat that forces Octane’s very much XL-sized tester closer to the dashboard than his knees would like – is made easier by
a neat little detachable steering wheel. The handbrake is still the traditional fly-off type but there’s electric power steering – about which more in a moment.
Twist the key and the Duratec fires as immediately and eagerly as any modern car’s. Its exhaust note is spot-on: quiet when you need it to be but attractively raspy when you give the throttle a prod, and positively snarly when that prod is prolonged. Performance is ample, as you’d expect, and although peak power isn’t developed until a heady 7200rpm, you don’t need to get anywhere near that figure to make rapid progress. OK, you don’t need to…
The ride and handling are both excellent, too, thanks in part to an 85kg weight saving over a 1950s original but mainly due to fully adjustable five-link rear suspension – no cart springs here – that gives effective control without being harsh. Alloy-caliper disc brakes are fitted all-round.
If there’s a minor niggle, it’s to do with steering feel. There’s a slight stiction, a reluctance to fully self-centre about the straightahead, which means the steering initially lightens rather than weights up as you turn into a corner. It’s mildly disconcerting rather than seriously alarming, and there’s certainly no lack of actual precision, but you do find yourself nostalgically missing the fluidity of the original car’s.
A Frontline MGA in this spec would set you back £145,000 plus VAT – replica Dunlop alloys (yes, please!) are a no-cost option –but if you presented them with a fully restored donor to convert, you could slash up to £30,000 off the final bill. Either way, for a car re-engineered and finished to such a high standard (paint and trim are just perfect), that doesn’t sound so outrageous.
A SELECTION OF OUR CURRENT STOCK
1969 ASTON MARTIN DB6 VOLANTE £POA
1 of just 140 examples of the model built. Comprehensively restored between 2009 & 2010, by highly respected Aston Martin specialist restorers. Original engine rebuilt to 4.2 litre specifications. 5-speed manual gearbox. Exquisite, elegant and immaculate.
Nicholas Mee & Co Ltd, Essendonbury Farm, Hatfield Park Estate, Hertfordshire, AL9 6AF 0208 741 8822 info@nicholasmee.co.uk nicholasmee.co.uk
1967 Aston Martin DB6 Volante £549,950 2000 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante ‘Special Edition’ £POA
1960 Aston Martin DB4 Series I £465,000
1953 Aston Martin DB2 £235,000
1988 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Zagato £POA
Aston Martin DB4 Series II £425,000
Gone but not forgotten
Words by Richard Heseltine
Hal Needham
Stuntman turned cult car-movie director, with modesty to match
ONCE THE HIGHEST-paid stuntman in the world, a NASCAR team patron, a would-be Land Speed Record breaker, and a man for whom there was no such thing as pre-commitment ji ers, Hal Needham would come up with an idea and then get things done. Much like the time he decided to become a lm director. His output would be derided by highfalutin critics but, if your formative years were the late 1970s and early ’80s and you loved car chases, his movies were the best things ever.
Becoming a populist Hollywood polymath was a long way removed from his start in life. Needham was born in Tennessee in March 1931, and his mother le his birth father the moment he arrived. He said in later years that he ‘never had a dad’ and spoke to him only a few times in several decades. He later learned that Howard Needham had become a down-and-out; a booze-hound who had burned through money and relationships. Young Hal and his siblings were raised in part by his stepfather, Corbe , a sometime sharecropper and full-time hustler.
e desire to make something of himself burned brightly, but an education was something other people had. Needham served
in the Korean War, during which he proved a natural parachutist, even if one jump ended with his main ’chute not opening, and his reserve only partially opening 100 from impact. e fall didn’t even break his skin. Back to Civvy Street in 1954, and fellow ex-paratrooper Cli Rose suggested he join him in California. ere was money to be made if only you could gure out how.
Tall, lean and handsome, Needham became a billboard model for Viceroy cigare es. He also toyed with becoming an actor, and joined Rose on the set of Billy Wilder’s biopic based on the life of Charles Lindbergh. Wilder needed stuntmen for a barnstorming sequence in e Spirit of St Louis, where wing-walkers braved loops and spins before transferring from biplane to biplane. Needham said he would do it for $2000. Wilder red back that he would pay $1000. By the end of the day, this was multiplied sixfold as the sequence needed to be reshot repeatedly.
Needham went on to double for John Wayne in countless lms. He also trained others, co-creating Stunts Unlimited in 1971. But it was while nursing a broken back and multiple other injuries that thoughts turned to writing a screenplay; a yarn about
bootlegging. He showed the bare bones of a script to his best friend Burt Reynolds, with whom he had cohabited for more than a decade. And Smokey and the Bandit was born.
His directorial debut became the second highest-grossing lm of 1977 behind Star Wars, and made a legion of young ’uns yearn to own a Trans-Am. However, while blessed with natural charisma and a can-do spirit, Needham wasn’t overendowed with modesty, even claiming to have driven the Pontiac during the famous bridge leap stunt. In reality, it was his protégé Alan Gibbs but, regardless, the lm’s success inevitably spawned sequels and other cinematic gems that required cars to defy the laws of gravity. It didn’t ma er to impressionable core audiences that the likes of Cannonball Run had li le by way of plot. Despite his success, Needham’s time behind the camera lasted barely a decade, but then he had distractions. For starters, he and fellow stuntman Stan Barre a empted to break the Land Speed Record in 1979. e Budweiser Rocket purportedly breached the sound barrier in December of that year at Edwards Air Force Base, having scorched to 739.666mph, but the bid was never o cially rati ed (not least because it was only run one-way). Needham maintained that the record was Barre ’s, and did so vociferously, the mythology behind the a empt being ampli ed with every telling.
en there was NASCAR. Needham and Burt Reynolds formed a team in 1980, their Skoal-Bandit cars initially being driven by Barre . His replacement Harry Gant went on to win 18 times that decade, even if a title proved elusive. Needham, however, found life spent bouncing between airports began to take its toll – more than the compound fractures ever had. He never fully retired, though he thro led back appreciably during his autumn years.
In 2012, Needham was garlanded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his services to lm-making. Quentin Tarantino was a fan and handed him his gong (Tarantino based Brat Pi ’s character in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Cli Booth, on Needham). Remarkably, given the number of times he put himself in harm’s way, the ‘stuntman’s stuntman’ lived to 82, only for cancer to claim him in 2013. He may not have been a name-above-the-title star, but Needham le an indelible impression on the movie world and car fans alike. His work wasn’t subtle but it sure struck a chord.
Le Needham on location in 1983 for the Burt Reynolds NASCAR movie Stroker Ace
SUPERCAR DAY
JOIN A THREE-DAY AUTOMOTIVE GARDEN PARTY IN THE HEART OF THE CITY
The London Concours is the capital’s leading automotive summer garden party, gathering together nearly 150 spectacular privately owned cars into one of London’s most beautiful hidden venues. Hosted at the Honourable Artillery Company HQ, a five-acre oasis of green in the heart of the City of London.
This year the London Concours will host – among many others – celebrations of Aston Martin, Mercedes-Benz and a dedicated Supercar Day to showcase the very latest performance innovations. Alongside these breathtaking displays, the London Concours is an occasion of pure indulgence, featuring luxury popup boutiques, champagne by Veuve Clicquot, catering by Searcys and a line-up of celebrity and expert guests as well as live podcast recordings
For tickets visit londonconcours.co.uk
TUESDAY 3 JUNE – A BRITISH ICON – ASTON MARTIN
WEDNESDAY 4 JUNE – THE GREATEST MARQUE – MERCEDES-BENZ
THURSDAY 5 JUNE – THE NEED FOR SPEED – SUPERCAR DAY
PRESENTED BY DRIVERS UNION
Josh Sadler
The lifelong 911 enthusiast and founder of Autofarm reveals what’s important to him
1. I set up Autofarm in 1973, when the market for repairing and selling older 911s was tiny, built it up into a business turning over a million pounds a year, and sold it to two of my management team in 2015. Three years later, through the RS club in France, I was asked to bring a car to a TAG Heuer event and found a gi package of this Carrera model and watch in my hotel room. I thought at first that a previous guest must have le them behind by mistake!
2. While I was away in France, my wife Sue – then aged 73 – was doing a marathon solo journey up to Falkirk, Scotland, in this horse-drawn wagon to raise money for The Brain Tumour Charity. Averaging 50 miles a week, it took her five months to complete the return trip, with only our dog for company.
3. Sue was already driving an Austin Seven when we met in the early ’70s and I gave her this 1929 Chummy when we married in 1973. The Chummy was a bribe to distract her from complaining about me racing my Aston Martin Le Mans, but she went on to do production car trials and carved out quite a name for herself, o en besting the young men in their Escorts!
4. Our Rayburn stove came from a local estate and is probably ge ing on for 30 years old now. We use it for cooking, which it does so very well, and for central heating, and it means the kitchen is always warm – very handy for drying clothes. It covers a lot of bases.
5. I’ve been a member of the Vintage Sports-Car Club since the late 1960s and have competed in the Pomeroy Trophy many times in my Allard J2X, Ford Falcon and o en a 911. This VSCC tankard is for winning a First Class Award with my 1973 Carrera RS last year.
6. Hook Norton Brewery in Oxfordshire is local to us, a piece of living history from which they still make deliveries on a cart pulled by draught horses. Its beer is my favourite tipple, even if my body isn’t quite so partial to it as I am!
7. Allards are a passion of mine and this stub axle broke o the front of my J2X as I was negotiating a roundabout, taking the wheel and brake drum with it. There happened to be a proper Romany Gypsy camping on the roundabout, a lovely guy, and he helped me find them – they’d travelled what seemed like miles and ended up in a ditch.
8. We have several animals, although the number is slowly declining as nature takes its course. We have two pygmy goats, this one called Oily and another, Rags. Initially we got a goat as company for Sue’s Shire horse and we’ve had them ever since.
9. In 2015, I decided I wanted to race at Laguna Seca and took a very early 911 S/T, chassis 12, to the States – it fi ed sideways into a 747! A er that, a friend suggested I enter the Daytona Classic; slightly awkward because by then I had sold the car, but the owner was fine about it. We worked out later that we’d maxed it in fi h gear 250 times during the race, and it was running be er than ever by the end.
1973 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona Spyder
Talacrest have completed 6 Daytona Spyder conversion transactions in the last few years in addition to factory Spyder deals in the past. Today this car presents in fantastic condition and offers a thrilling V12 “al fresco” analogue driving experience. Complete with an extensive history file, this Daytona is ready for tours and events especially when the sun makes an appearance this year.
Delwyn Mallett
The Wiener Riesenrad
No longer the biggest of the big wheels, but certainly one of the most widely seen
MADE IN 1949 and often ranked as the best British movie of all time, The Third Man is a film noir set in a still war-ravaged Vienna. Pulp fiction writer Holly Martins, played by Joseph Cotten, has arrived at the request of his old friend Harry Lime (the inimitable Orson Welles), only to discover that Lime is about to be buried after apparently dying in mysterious circumstances. But then he catches a fleeting glimpse of the still very much alive Lime, and a rendezvous is arranged at the giant Ferris Wheel in the city’s Wurstelprater amusement park.
As the wheel rotates, Welles famously delivers his self-penned speech in a paraphrase of which he declares: ‘Italy, after 30 years of bloodshed and terror under the Borgias, still managed to produce Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance, while in Switzerland they had 500 years of democracy and peace and produced the cuckoo clock.’ Welles’ presence, despite only ten minutes on screen in the total 1hr 44min running time, dominates the film as the cynically amoral dealer in stolen and adulterated penicillin. Three of those ten minutes are spent on the giant wheel.
The Vienna Riesenrad (‘travelling wheel’) opened on 3 July 1897 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the reign of Emperor Franz Joseph, with thousands gathered in the amusement park to watch.
If you have ever wondered why giant rotating wheels are called Ferris Wheels, wonder no more. With the looming 400th anniversary of Columbus bumping into what he’d thought was India, a competition
was announced to suggest a publicity-grabbing attraction for Chicago’s celebratory World’s Columbian Exposition, planned for 1893. Civil engineer George Washington Gale Ferris Jr proposed a giant rotating wheel. He won the competition, built the wheel, started a trend, and provided his name for posterity. Ferris’s wheel was 70.4m (230ft) tall and, such is the competitive nature of man, a ‘mine’s bigger than yours’ race began and Ferris Wheels soared ever higher.
Two years later, London’s Empire of India Exhibition upped the ante by nearly 14m (46ft). The French, whose Eiffel Tower had in 1889 kicked off the ‘big attraction’ at world’s fair events, could not tolerate being second to les Rosbifs and added 2m to their Grand Roue de Paris for the 1905 Exposition Universelle. At 86m (282ft) it was the greatest of the great wheels and unsurpassed for 90 years. It was, however, demolished in 1920, leaving the tallest-extant record – at a ‘mere’ 64.75m (212.4ft) – to the Wiener Riesenrad for the following 65 years. It was finally eclipsed by the Technocosmos wheel at Japan’s Expo ’85.
The Vienna wheel was built by the intriguingly named Walter Bassett Basset, who seems to have cornered the market in great wheel construction, having built the London wheel, another in Blackpool and also the Paris wheel. Basset was assisted by Hubert Cecil Booth, a young engineer who later designed the first vacuum cleaner, which sucked up dirt rather than blowing it away. The Riesenrad’s components were fabricated off-site and delivered like a giant Meccano set, with the most difficult part to produce and transport being the massive axle, 10.9m (35.7ft) long and weighing 16.3 tons. It was forged and machined in one piece in Glasgow by W Beardmore & Co.
As their novelty wore off, so the great wheels were demolished as uneconomical to run, but Vienna’s was fortuitously saved by one world war only to be almost destroyed in another. It was scheduled to be demolished in 1916 at the height of the disastrous conflict that was tearing the Austro-Hungarian Empire apart, yet the cash-strapped city could not afford the demolition cost and the wheel survived, only to be consumed by fire in the Second World War. By then it had become a well-loved landmark and it was rebuilt and reopened in 1947, albeit with the original 30 gondolas reduced to 15.
The new Millennium saw revived interest in big wheels and another race for altitude, kicked off by the 135m (443ft) London Eye, with wheels in Russia, China and Singapore climbing higher in the subsequent few years. America regained the crown in 2014, with the 167.6m (550ft) High Roller – in Las Vegas, of course – but in 2021 the United Arab Emirates really shot for the stars with a nosebleed-inducing 250m (820ft) behemoth on Bluewaters Island, Dubai.
For cinephiles, The Third Man will always be the film most associated with the Riesenrad but it has regularly featured in subsequent Viennaset movies. Timothy Dalton’s James Bond managed a romantic tryst with female assassin Kara (Maryam d’Abo) in a cabin on the wheel in the 1987 movie The Living Daylights, and more recently it has appeared in Vienna Blood, the turn-of-the-century TV detective series.
Unlike most amusement park attractions, the rotation speed of Ferris Wheels has never been the main attraction; in fact the slower the better, as it’s the vista that counts. The Vienna wheel moves at a heady 2.7km/h (2mph), taking roughly 20 minutes to complete a revolution.
However, for adrenaline junkies seeking more of a rush, the wheel now features Platform 9, a glass-floored viewing platform open on all sides, on which intrepid passengers can stand while tethered to an overhead beam.
Mark McArthur-Christie
e Great Escapement
A radical move for the usually conservative Rolex
ROLEX, TO MISQUOTE David Nobbs’ character CJ in e Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, didn’t get where it is today by frightening the horses. Every now and then there’s a new dial or a new case, very occasionally a new model. Change, sure, but at the sort of rate that the Alps move at. So the rm launching a new model, the Land-Dweller, featuring a new escapement, is a proper ags-and-bunting event. at said, at rst glance, the new watch doesn’t look exactly revolutionary. At the risk of sounding like Mystic Mark, I know what you’re thinking. If you’re under 40 it’ll be ‘Gosh, doesn’t it look like a Tissot PRX?’ Over 40 or into your vintage stu and it’s ‘Blimey, is that an Oysterquartz or a ref.1530?’ And yes, the resemblance to both is there – a er all, every maker now needs a Genta-esque integratedbracelet watch in the range.
If Rolexes are your thing, ipping the watch over to see the movement might remind you of the cal. 7140. And sure, the new cal. 7135 is based on the older movement but it’s spinning at a brisk 36,000bph, rather than the more usual modern standard of 28,800bph.
All this might sound a bit underwhelming – a watch that looks like an Oysterquartz with a faster-beating movement – but the LandDweller really is a proper revolution. Here’s why… e watch on your wrist most likely has a lever escapement. e mainspring’s power is metered in swings of the balance wheel controlled by a metal pallet fork (the lever) with two jewelled tips acting on a toothed metal escape wheel. It’s been tried and tested tech since omas Mudge invented it 270-odd years ago. e main problem is the friction it produces as the jewels on the pallet fork hit the escape wheel’s teeth. is makes it ine cient, in need of regular lubrication and servicing as the oil dries out. e faster the movement beats in its quest for accuracy, the more o en it’ll need an oil change and rebuild. A bit like a high-performance car engine.
Not so the Land-Dweller’s new Dynapulse escapement. It’s able to run faster with less friction partly because of its design and partly because of the materials it’s made from. Rather than a single escape wheel controlling power to the balance, the Dynapulse uses two skeletonised silicon ‘distribution’ wheels that mesh together and,
ONE TO WATCH
at the same time, control an impulse rocker (the bit that replaces the lever) and thus the balance. is results in way less friction, so less need for oil – and an escapement that’s a third more e cient than a traditional lever. at means, even though it beats 25% faster, it runs for 66 hours from a full wind.
e balance spring itself is silicon, so it’s anti-magnetic, resistant to temperature changes, light and hard. Using silicon for components in this way also means – yet again – far less friction and so less need for lubricant. e balance sta itself (the pivot it spins on) is laser-cut from ceramic; same principle.
ere’s beauty, too. ose distribution wheels look as though they were designed by the blokes who built the cathedral at Chartres.
e Land-Dweller is the horological equivalent of a Q-car. Yes, it looks rather like a fancy-dialled Oysterquartz from the 1970s, but the technology inside is so far ahead of what anyone else is producing at scale that it’ll be giving the Geneva rm’s competitors ki ens. ere aren’t many companies that could prototype, develop and launch a completely new design of escapement straight into production. It goes to show that even Rolex can surprise when it wants to.
Rolex
Oysterquartz
As its name suggests, the Rolex of the quartz world
THE OYSTERQUARTZ IS the riposte to those people who tell you that Rolex second hands only sweep and never tick. Launched in 1977, the OQ showed that quartz didn’t have to be cheap and nasty. Although it wasn’t the rst Rolex quartz (that was the ref. 5100, with the collaboratively developed Beta 21 movement), it was the rst to make it to mainline production. e cal. 5035 and 5055 movements used 11 jewels, a proper pallet fork and a 32kHz oscillator. And they’re beautifully nished. ere’s everything from stainless to full-on ’70s bling, with 15 variants to choose from – and fewer than 25,000 made. Values range widely: £3000 to £50,000.
The Aston Martin Project GT Racing Cars
STEPHEN ARCHER and DAVID TREMAYNE, Palawan Press, £750 (see text)
Yes, the price of this book is more than some of us would pay for a functioning car – and £750 is just the starting price for entry, applicable to the first 150 copies. If you’re a bit tardy getting your order in, the cost rises to £1000 and then £1500 for the final batch. Should you prefer a more exclusive version, you’ll be looking at a minimum of £1750 for a leather-bound edition, while for one of the ultra-limited ‘chassis editions’ – well, if you have to ask the price, you can’t afford it. Though, if you are an Aston ‘DP’ project car owner, you probably can. Nevertheless, it’s nice to know that some people are willing to a) create such beautiful objects, and b) purchase them. Palawan Press was founded by ex-Virgin Music chairman Simon Draper, who as a 20-year-old student hooked up with the equally youthful Richard Branson. The rest, as they say, is history, and Draper rewarded himself by acquiring Aston Martin DB4 GT project car DP214 in 1993 – so beautiful books about Aston have been a recurring subject for his publishing house.
Book of the month
The book begins by explaining how Aston itself used the coded abbreviations ‘DP’ and ‘MP’, the former standing for Design Project and not Development Project, as is often supposed, while the latter meant ‘Master Project’. In theory, DP cars were one-off prototypes while MPs were intended for some sort of production run, but there was no great consistency and codes were also sometimes assigned to engines rather than cars.
From this starting point, you’re treated to a straightforward chronological account of engines, cars and the evolution of both, beginning with Tadek Marek’s straight-six and the DB4, and running through to the lesser-known 1967 Lola Aston that married a T70 with Marek’s then-new V8 engine. Because these subjects all date to almost 60 years ago or longer, most of the extensive personal recollections gathered here have been published before, although the anecdotes bear repeating – such as when, after the DP214s had finally bested Ferrari’s 250 GTOs on the latters’ home turf at Monza in 1963, Aston’s mechanics inveigled themselves into Enzo Ferrari’s private party and, having drained several bottles of Enzo’s whisky, persuaded him to sign one of the empties!
What’s new is the presentation, and the way that a large number of fabulously dramatic factory shots, such as the ones shown here on the left, have been given full rein, so to speak. There are also insights into what it’s been like to own and race such machines in more recent times, plus extensive individual histories of each chassis from conception to the present day.
Last but not least, it’s worth remembering that these exceptional books are likely not only to hold their value but to appreciate. As a wise man once commented, there is a finite quantity of top-flight classics in the world, but the number of ultra-rich people who’d like one continues to increase.
The
Complete Book of AMC Cars
Always overshadowed – on this side of The Pond, at least – by US megaliths such as Ford and Chevrolet, American Motors Corporation produced some innovative cars during its 1954-88 career. Europeans may remember the Gremlin and Pacer compacts, but tend to be less familiar with the four-wheel-drive Eagle sedans and wagons introduced in 1980, for example. Also covering AMC’s sub-brands of Nash, Hudson, Rambler and Metropolitan, this is a colourful, in-depth, engaging overview.
PATRICK R FOSTER and TOM GLATCH, Motorbooks, £38, ISBN 978 0 76038 701 6
A.J. Foyt Volume One
‘Outspoken’ is one of the more polite adjectives you could apply to arguably the greatest racer the US has ever produced – but, as this chunky hardback points out, there was also a caring and thoughtful side to Anthony Joseph Foyt, Jr. Such was the scale of his success – he’s the ‘winningest’ of all Indycar racers – that separating fact from mythology isn’t an easy task and the author has pulled together an incredibly thorough biography of Foyt’s life up to 1977. We look forward to volume two continuing the story.
ART GARNER, Octane Press, $29.95, ISBN 978 1 64234 178 2
Silverstone The Home of British Motor Racing
Although this is an updated edition of a book first published in 2013, since then Silverstone has been on such a metaphorical rollercoaster that a revised and expanded version makes total sense. What’s more, having proved his credentials first time around, the author had no problems getting first-hand access to all the key figures of more recent years – notably Silverstone’s CEO Stuart Pringle, who is refreshingly candid about all the problems the circuit has faced, from dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic to fans angered by ‘dynamic pricing’ of ticket sales.
In fact, the internal politics of such a massive operation as Silverstone can be more exciting than the racing (and sometimes amusing, such as when Jack Sears recalls the dire situation with the circuit’s toilets in the early 1970s). The tussles with Bernie Ecclestone about whether Donington or Silverstone should get the British Grand Prix make for a particularly gripping read.
That said, it’s the racing and the drivers that are at the heart of the book, from the first Grand Prix in 1948 – at least, the first official one, since the Frazer Nash Car Club’s infamous ‘Mutton Grand Prix’, so-called after an errant sheep was run over, took place in 1947 – and every year’s events are chronologically recorded. Other great Silverstone characters such as Jimmy Brown, who organised the 1948 race and every subsequent one until his death in 1988, are profiled, too, along with a chapter on bike, kart and truck racing. If you cherish the circuit, this book is a must-have.
CHAS PARKER, Evro, £60, ISBN 978 1 910505 92 2
The Motorsport History of Aston Hill
This lovely passion project has been produced to mark the centenary of the last pre-war Aston Hill Climb, an event bestknown today for having put the ‘Aston’ into Aston Martin and recently revived by classic enthusiasts. First run in 1904, the hillclimb attracted many of the early 20th Century’s most fêted drivers and motorbike riders, and this captivating little softback’s 148 pages are packed with period images, entry lists, competitor profiles and more.
MIKE STARK and STEVE AKERS, JRB Publishing, £35, 978 1 9997588 8 2
Jacques Saoutchik 110101
So reads the spine; the front cover proclaims J. Saoutchik Carrossier 1948 Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport Chassis 110101, an accurate if wordy description of the contents. This handsome slipcased book is an exhaustive account of the first T26 made, bodied by Saoutchik and shown at the 1948 Paris Salon.
The book is built around gorgeous colour images of the car, some taken in period at that Paris show and many more since its recent restoration by the famed Chropynska workshop in the Czech Republic. The problems caused by its first makeover in the late 1970s are also illustrated by fascinating work-in-progress shots that really show you what goes into creating a 100pt concours car these days – the previous job was done to the Pebble Beach standards of the time!
The two authors have made a fine job of putting the car into its historical context, with contemporary photos of several other coachbuilt Talbot-Lagos, so there’s more to this beautifully designed book than simply an homage to one particular chassis.
PETER M LARSEN and BEN ERICKSON, Dalton Watson, £175, ISBN 978 1 956309 19 5
Original illustration for Shell by Reginald Mount
Whether they knew his name or not, whole generations of Brits were familiar with the work of Reginald Mount, who lent his talents to the Ministry of Information during World War Two and beyond. Mount, together with his creative partner Eileen Evans, produced memorable posters about everything from wartime infosec to recycling. In the 1950s he began accepting work from commercial clients again, notably penning the famous poster art for the Alec Guinness film The Ladykillers. Around the same time, he provided Shell with some charming illustrations for use in an educational film, and this is one of them, in gouache on paper and preserved in good condition. £700. stephanieconnell.com
1956 Austin-Healey Streamliner by AutoCult
A 1:43-scale model of the car in which Donald Healey realised his long-held dream of o cially breaking the 200mph barrier – just about. He hit 203.76mph on the first of the two runs required for ratification, and did just enough on the second run before the car’s supercharged engine announced its displeasure at being worked so hard, and blew up. £128.95. grandprixmodels.com
Compiled by Chris Bietzk and Sophie Kochan
SunGod x Oscar Piastri ‘Renegades’ sunglasses
At the time of writing, Oscar Piastri has won three Grands Prix on the bounce and sits atop the F1 standings, and the youngster is now big-time enough to have his own line of sunglasses with SunGod. £90. sungod.co
TaylorMade ‘Rors Proto’ irons
Parmigiani Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante Verzasca
The only new thing here is the colour of the dial, inspired by the Verzasca river – but then Parmigiani’s dual-time design was pre y much perfect already. For those unfamiliar with its party trick: the gold hour hand is advanced to a second time zone by the pusher on the le -hand side of the 40mm case, and when you return home a press of the gold bu on integrated into the crown causes the gold hand to vanish beneath the main hour hand. CHF 28,700. parmigiani.com
A er struggling for a decade to get over the line (and a er giving his supporters a heart a ack), in April Rory McIlroy finally completed the career Grand Slam by winning the Masters. In his bag was the set of custom-made irons that he has used since 2017, and an identical set is now available to us hackers for a limited time. £1249.99. taylormadegolf.co.uk
The Mustang ’65 print by Alban Lerailler
Car designer Alban Lerailler, who recently moved from his native France to work with Lamborghini, apparently has no o -switch: his free time is spent producing drawing-board-style studies of classic cars, and our favourite to date is this one, which tells the story of the genesis of the Ford Mustang. From €65. alban-lerailler.com
Hot Wheels Ferrari 250 GTO & Fiat 642 RN2 Transporter
Sure, the GTO is nice and all, but the main a raction here is plainly the model of the fabulous Bartole ibodied transporter that was used by Ferrari to ferry cars to and from race meetings in the 1950s and ’60s. £18.99. hotwheels.com/ferrari
TheUnexpected by John Ketchell
Painter John Ketchell tips his cap to Tazio Nuvolari, who 90 years ago put in a performance for the ages at the German Grand Prix, outrunning the mighty and muchfancied Silver Arrows of Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union in his comparatively old and underpowered Alfa Romeo P3. £2500 (acrylic on canvas, 30in wide). historiccarart.net
Linn Majik DSM network music player
The fi h generation of Linn’s ‘entry-level’ streamer is in fact packed with technology borrowed from recent flagship products, most notably an improved digital-toanalogue converter. It shares some of the design flourishes of the company’s pricier o erings, too, including a top-mounted control dial made from cut glass. £4300. linn.co.uk
Squale Corallo NOS
If this 37mm diver looks to you like something straight out of the 1980s, that’s because it is straight out of the 1980s: Squale recently located 300 new-old-stock Corallo cases from four decades ago, and it has turned them into finished watches using the modern ETA 2892A2 movement. CHF 1830. squale.ch
Lal Katana
In 2021, Canadian company Lal Bikes introduced an innovative drivetrain for a high-pivot mountain bike. In the ‘Supre Drive’ system, the functions of a rear derailleur (shi ing and tensioning the chain) are separated, and the traditional and maddeningly vulnerable derailleur cage is eliminated. The plan was to license Supre Drive to bike manufacturers, but uptake was slow; the drivetrain demands that a frame be built specifically to accommodate it. Happily, though, Lal founder Cedric Eveleigh recently had a ‘Screw it – we’ll do it ourselves’ moment, and the company’s first production bike, the Katana, is available to pre-order now. CAD 4850 (frame and Supre Drive). lalbikes.com
‘Mondrian Goes Cycling’ shirt by t-lab
Inspired by the geometric paintings made by Piet Mondrian, who for all his oddness was the stereotypical Dutchman in at least one respect: he enjoyed cycling. £34. t-lab.co.uk
Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing model by Mattel Brick Shop
With absolutely no thought given to the fact that we have very li le shelf-space le at home, the people at Ma el have introduced seven new brick-built car models, including a first-generation Honda/Acura NSX, a ’62 Chevy Pickup, and this 1600-piece, 1:12-scale 300SL Gullwing. £136.99. ma elbrickshop.com
Edited by Matthew Hayward
The Market
BUYING + SELLING + ANALYSIS
‘Yellowbird’ leads $15.3m
Air/Water sale
Broad Arrow’s Porsche-themed auction headlined by $4.68m 1989 Ruf CTR
FOR THE SECOND time in as many months, we have witnessed the sale of an original Ruf CTR ‘Yellowbird’ at auction. Leading Broad Arrow’s Porsche-themed Air|Water sale in California, this particular example was chassis 23 of the 29 built, commanding a final $4,680,000 price. That’s some way off the benchmark $5.5m figure attained by the ultra-low-mileage Gooding Christie’s car in Amelia Island, but was still within the $4.5-5.5m estimate. The total sale achieved $15.3m, an almost identical figure to that of last year’s inaugural event, with a 76% sell-through rate. Following the Ruf in the rankings was a 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder that, complete with desirable Weissach pack and Martini Racing livery, sold for $2,590,000. Also in the mix at the top of the sales charts was a Singer-reimagined 911 with a sale price of just over $1m. Further proof that the previously under-the-radar 911 Carrera MFI has officially gained market acknowledgment came with the sale of a clean 1974 example for $329,500. Bonhams returned to Florida for its second Miami Grand Prix auction, where it fared
considerably better than last year. Sales totalled $10,214,080, although appetite for $1m-plus cars was limited to the top-seller, another Singer 911 –the Classic Turbo reimagined by Singer that we previewed in the last issue – that sold for $1,680,000. Another restomod, the gorgeous Alfaholics GTA-R, also proved popular. The first offered at auction, it totalled a healthy $392,600.
Multiple big-hitters failed to gain quite enough attention to creep past their reserves, however, with the most notable being the headline Brawn F1. John Mayhead ponders the potential reasons for this on the opposite page. One of the success stories of the sale was The Orange Collection, which was offered entirely with no reserve and mostly performed well.
With RM Sotheby’s and Broad Arrow both gearing up for big new Continental sales this month, and with a new multi-year partnership between Gooding Christie’s and Rétromobile having just been announced, it’s certainly an interesting (and what feels like an evolutionary) period for the European auction calendar. Matthew Hayward
£3,515,148 ($4,680,000) 1989 Ruf CTR ‘Yellowbird’ Broad Arrow Auctions, Costa Mesa, California, USA, 26 April
£1,962,340 ($2,617,500)
2015 Porsche 918 Spyder Weissach
Bring a Trailer, Newport Beach, California, USA, 24 April
£1,945,349 ($2,590,000)
2015 Porsche 918 Spyder Weissach ‘Martini Racing’ Broad Arrow Auctions, Costa Mesa, California, USA, 26 April
£1,815,000 ($2,407,800)
1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing
Bring a Trailer, Newport Beach, California, USA, 18 April
£1,459,280 ($1,868,824)
2024 Ferrari SF90 XX Spider Collecting Cars, Milan, Italy, 8 April
£1,280,565 ($1,650,000) 2023 Ferrari 812 Competizione Mecum Auctions, Houston, Texas, USA, 4 April
£1,148,056 ($1,528,500) 1966 Porsche 906 Broad Arrow Auctions, Costa Mesa, California, USA, 26 April
£1,052,542 ($1,396,500)
2005 Porsche Carrera GT
Bring a Trailer, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA, 23 April
£898,724 ($1,197,500)
2019 McLaren Senna
Bring a Trailer, South River, New Jersey, USA, 30 April
£797,038 ($1,057,500)
1993 Porsche 911 Carrera 2 by Singer
Bring a Trailer, North Salem, New York, USA, 23 April
Buy the best you can… or don’t
Buyers are pickier than ever, but that can present an opportunity for the more hands-on enthusiasts
WE’VE ENTERED THE realm of the picky buyer. It’s not surprising: no ma er how enthusiastic we are about the subject, classic and performance cars are luxuries and, when money is tight, many buyers tend to be more cautious about how they spend it.
It’s not just my opinion. Hagerty data shows that the very top cars are selling at a rate that signi cantly exceeds that of less perfect cars and that this gap wasn’t as pronounced a few years ago. Until the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, the 12-month rolling sell-through rate for cars categorised by Hagerty as condition 2 (‘excellent’) tended to outperform those of condition 1 (‘concours’) by a signi cant margin – up to ve percentage points. A er that point, the top cars have, other than a very brief spike in Q2 2024, outperformed the less-perfect examples.
Of course, it’s not only condition that a ects whether something is selling easily or not, but also the model itself. Both dealers and private sellers are reporting that quirky cars, and even those that are just not quite the most desirable model, are struggling to sell, whereas the more well-regarded, ‘solid’ classics are moving quickly.
A great example is the 2009 Brawn BGP001 Formula 1 car that was o ered by Bonhams in Miami on 3 May. is was a very special car, one of just three Brawn chassis that propelled the new team to its extraordinarily unlikely victory that year. F1 cars, as I’ve wri en before on these pages, have become extremely collectable in recent years and this one is very unusual, both because it’s the only Brawn GP001 that has been o ered for sale and because it retains its original Mercedes-Benz engine. It was
estimated at $4.5-6.5m, the bidding stopped at £3.8m, and it didn’t sell.
On the face of it, the estimate seemed fair, especially given the $18.8m price achieved by Lewis Hamilton’s 2013 Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 W04 sold by RM Sotheby’s in Las Vegas back in 2023, but potential buyers of the Brawn remained si ing on their hands. Although this was a very special car, it wasn’t quite top of the pile: this was Barichello’s car, not Bu on’s. It didn’t actually win a Grand Prix, coming home second in three races. And, critically, it’s not a Ferrari, McLaren or Mercedes: it’s a Brawn. Much as the team’s glorious underdog story resonates with older F1 fans like me, I wonder if it has the same impact on the Drive to Survive generation, especially those living in the US. Given that context, $3.8m seems like a fair bid.
So, what does this pickiness mean for the general enthusiast? Notwithstanding other F1 cars coming up for sale, I believe it could o er opportunities for those who are looking for a longer-term classic. If you’re buying with half an eye on reselling in short order, or if you’d rather own something you can move on easily should you really need to do so, then by all means buy a run-of-the-mill classic, ideally something post-2000, high-performance, very well-maintained, and with full service sheets and very low mileage. But if you’re looking for a slightly ta y, quirky or downright odd classic that you can work on, drive and enjoy over several years, now could be the time to drive a bargain. I’m o to look at a very silly modi ed Italian sports car. I’ll let you know how I get on.
SELL-THROUGH RATES: CONCOURS VS EXCELLENT
John Mayhead Hagerty Price Guide editor, market commentator and concours judge
12-month running live and online auction sell-through rates (STR) for condition 1 (‘concours’) and condition 2 (‘excellent’) cars.
A lucky lot
RM Sotheby’s, Monterey, USA 15-16 August
IF THERE’S ONE automotive marque that seems to hold universal admiration from all corners of the enthusiast universe, it’s Alfa Romeo. A huge part of that is due to the company’s racing legacy, and RM Sotheby’s has just announced the outstanding Quadrifoglio Collection – which features a number of Autodelta’s greatest hits.
Front and centre is a 1968 Alfa Romeo T33/2 ‘Daytona’, one of the ten surviving T33/2s. This is chassis 15, which made its debut at the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1968 (taking fifth in class) and went on to compete in the Targa Florio and at the Nürburgring and Spa in period. It was the first T33 to get the larger 2.5-litre V8, still fitted today.
This car lived a fascinating life following its primary career, spending much time racing in Angola and then restored by ex-Autodelta mechanic Marcello Gambi in the mid-1990s. It appeared at the Le Mans Classic in the early 2000s, at which point it was actually registered for road use! It’s estimated at $1.7-2.0million.
Other highlights include the only TZ-1 originally delivered with a double-bubble roof, custom-ordered by Dmitri Nabokov, son of the famed novelist ($700,000-900,000), one of the 41 ‘Coda Tronca’ Giulietta SZs ($400,000-500,000) and a 1750 GTAm ($200,000-250,000). The collection also contains several other race-ready Alfas. rmsothebys.com
Box fresh
H&H Classics, Beds, UK 25 June
A FULLY RESTORED vehicle can be a wonderful thing, but there’s a certain allure to a 50-year old car that remains, by and large, as it left the factory. This turquoise Series 3 E-type is one of those incredible timewarp examples, having covered just 19,800 miles from new. It was picked up by a private collector in 2014 and ‘sympathetically rejuvenated’, which means that mechanicals have been fully worked through ‘to aircraft standards’. Bodily it is said to retain the vast majority of its factory paintwork, with all trim and interior parts original, too. Further cars from the same seller – The Merlin Collection – will be offered in the same sale, where it’s estimated at £80,000-100,000. handh.co.uk
1994 BMW 850Ci Historics, Datchet, UK 19 July, historics.co.uk
Not only is this gorgeous V12-powered coupé in beautiful condition with a full, 20,378-mile history, it is being offered by its one owner from new. It was kept in Cyprus until being imported to the UK by its owner in 2021. The interior was retrimmed by BMW as part of a meticulous maintenance regime and it’s now expected to sell for £40,000-50,000.
Also Look Out For…
1928 Citroën 12/24 Saloon Iconic Auctioneers, Bicester, UK
1 June, iconicauctioneers.com
Believed to be one of only four surviving Slough-built examples, this 12/24 was fully restored several years ago and is still in great condition. After several years in a collection, it will need some recommissioning but could make a slightly less obvious first foray into pre-war motoring for someone, especially with such a tempting £8000-10,000 estimate.
Tom Sage Sr began collecting model trains in the 1960s in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and he went on to become a renowned dealer of vintage toys, with customers all around the world – but it turns out that he kept all the best stuff for himself.
When he died in November last year, Sage left behind an astonishing collection, part of which will be sold by Morphy Auctions in Denver, Pennsylvania, on 29 May. Of the 300 treasures set to go under the hammer, hardest to miss is this battery-powered toy ship named Amerika; it’s a whopping 45in long. It was made by Märklin of Germany in 1909 or 1910, a few years after the launch of the Harland & Wolff-built luxury ocean liner Amerika, though it is not an accurate model of that floating palace. Very few examples of the Märklin toy survive, and Sage’s has been estimated at $100,000-150,000. Seriously interested parties will want to have more than that in their war chest, however: when an Amerika was
1975 Ford Escort Monte Carlo, Coachwork by Frua Bonhams, Chéserex, Switzerland 29 June, bonhams.com
Without looking under the bonnet, you would never know that this interesting little sports car was based on a Ford Escort. It was a one-off from Frua built in 1971 and made its debut on the Frua stand at the Paris motor show, sitting alongside the Aga Khan Maserati Quattroporte. Offered with no reserve, it carries an estimate of CHF50,000-60,000.
The idea of a V6-engined warm hatchback has a certain appeal, and this top-spec Highline model – complete with black leather –would make a particularly satisfying cruiser. It looks wellkept, and the catalogue mentions that it has been in the hands of a TV production company for a while, used in dramas such as Luther and Silent Witness . Est: £2500-3500.
offered by Bertoia Auctions in 2016, the bidding did not stop until a determined individual had pledged to part with $271,400 – a record sum for a toy boat, and almost four times more than had been expected.
28 May – 4 June
RM Sotheby’s, online 30-31 May
Vicari, Biloxi, USA
31 May
Oldtimer Galerie, Lucerne, Switzerland
Lucky Collector Car Auctions, Tacoma, USA
1 June
Classic Car Auctions, Bicester, UK
Lucky Collector Car Auctions, online
5 June
Charterhouse, Sparkford, UK (motorcycles)
6-7 June
Mecum, Tulsa, USA 6-16 June
Bonhams, online (motorcycles)
7 June
WB & Sons, Killingworth, UK 14 June
Barons Manor Park Classics, Southampton, UK 14-15 June
ACA, King’s Lynn, UK
21 June
Dore & Rees, Andover, UK
23 June
Osenat, Fontainebleau, France
25 June
Brightwells, online
H&H, Duxford, UK 25-27 June
Mathewsons, online
26 June
Charterhouse, Sparkford, UK
28 June
Artcurial, Saint-Tropez, France
29 June
Aguttes, Paris, France Bonhams, Chéserex, Switzerland
4 July
Ewbank’s, Send, UK
8 July
RM Sotheby’s, Taplow, UK
9 July
H&H Classics, Bickenhill, UK (motorcycles) 9-12 July
Mecum, Kissimmee, USA
11 July
Bonhams, Goodwood, UK
12 July
Barons Manor Park Classics, Southampton, UK 18-19 July
Manor Park Classics, Runcorn, UK
19 July
Cheffins, Cambridge, UK
AUCTION DIARY IN ASSOCIATION WITH
Thought you’d like to know: Ayrton Senna’s 1992 Belgian Grand Prix helmet (see Octane 26 3) sold for £720,000; the auction of the Piprahwa Gems (see Octane 264) was postponed following a repatriation request from the Indian Government.
Willys Jeep
One of the world’s most recognisable vehicles, with an anniversary to celebrate
TO MARK THE 80th anniversary of VE Day, there can be only one vehicle to track this month: the Willys-Overland MB, also built by Ford as the GPW, and better-known as the ‘Jeep’.
In June 1940 the US Government sent a brief to 135 manufacturers, requesting proposals for a ‘rectangularshaped’ four-wheel-drive vehicle with a maximum weight of 1200lb, a payload of 600lb, 75in wheelbase, height no more than 36in (windscreen folded) – and a prototype within 49 days!
Only American Bantam and Willys-Overland responded, the latter with the lowest bid but unable to meet deadlines, so Bantam (a legacy of the American Austin Company) got the
contract. It couldn’t keep pace with demand, so the contract was expanded to Willys and Ford.
These ‘Military A’ models mostly went overseas before the design was standardised in July 1941, giving rise to the Ford GP and Willys MB. The name Jeep predates Ford’s designation, which was created a year after the Bantam, widely reported using the catchy nickname.
It remains one of the most recognisable classics on the planet, and evokes strong emotions for many. Prices have remained relatively flat for a long time – the current Hagerty Price Guide UK ‘Excellent’ value of £23,300 is exactly where it was in 2015 after a £27,900 peak in 2017 and a £20,900 low in 2021.
Higher prices are reserved for originality and war history; body tubs embossed with the Ford logo command a 10% premium. Buyers pay more for those with famous links: a Jeep owned by Steve McQueen was sold at the NEC by Silverstone Auctions (now Iconic) in 2018 for £84,375. The ultimate collector’s Jeep is the ultra-rare crated version, disassembled and packed in a wooden box.
Ownership demographics are interesting: 47% of Hagerty owners worldwide were born before 1965, compared with 35% of all cars insured. These are people more likely to have a particular emotional link with World War Two.
John Mayhead
THE NUMBERS
135
2
60
MANUFACTURERS ASKED BY USA GOVERNMENT TO OFFER DESIGN
MANUFACTURERS THAT RESPONDED
49
HAGI Value Tracker
Ferrari
365 GTB/4
Daytona
You could argue forever about whether the Daytona or Miura is faster or better, but there’s no doubt that for a long period the front-engined Ferrari outpaced its mid-engined rival in the market. Fortunes have reversed, and the Ferrari, in comparative terms, now represents the value proposition in the priceperformance-prestige equation. In 1968, the first year both were on sale concurrently, they were similarly priced. In the UK the Daytona cost £8563, the Miura £9525; in the US the Ferrari was tagged at $19,700, the Lamborghini at $19,250.
In the classic car boom of the 1980s the Daytona took flight and left the Miura trailing. In
1989 I well recall an auctioneer asking: ‘Would you like this morning’s value or this afternoon’s?’ Daytonas had come to the attention of city-boy speculators and were routinely fetching £350,000, with outlier transactions above £400,000. Then came the Black Friday stock market crash…
From the initial crash, of which the Daytona became a totem, prices bottomed out at sub£60,000 in the late 1990s. The Miura, once at two-thirds the price, began to equalise, and since the Noughties has romped ahead. Moreover, it was only in the early 2010s that the Daytona recovered to 1989 peak levels.
Over the last five years the 365 GTB/4 Daytona has returned compound annual growth of 5.92%, with prices for better examples from £450,000-plus to £700,000-plus for top-tier cars. This is broadly in line with the overall Ferrari segment. However, the collectable Lamborghini sphere has bettered that with five-year compound annual
growth of 7.64%, and even more notably the HAGI Miura index has advanced by 9.5%. The first-of-line Miura P400 is broadly approaching double a Daytona’s price; meanwhile the 1971-73 P400 SV has transacted well beyond £3million.
This is not the place to comment on that, but there is an elephant in the room that must be mentioned. Over the same five years the S&P 500 equities index has returned compound annual growth of 16.77%, but that is after
647,925
BUILT BY THE END OF WW2 HORSEPOWER FROM THE 2199CC ENGINE DAYS GIVEN TO CREATE A PROTOTYPE
taking a 40% hit in the Covid crash, to which classic cars had a high degree of herd immunity. The Daytona, once a vehicle of speculators, has freed itself from that stigma and can be betterappreciated for what it is: Ferrari’s supreme 1960s road car and the pinnacle of the classic V12 front-engined transaxle theme. HistoricAutoGroup.com
1970 Lotus Seven S3
£24,995
The Seven S3 formed a template for all future Caterham models, and this gorgeous example was restored in 2020 – retaining all of the correct Ford components. anthonygodin.co.uk (UK)
1981 Studebaker Avanti II V8 225,000 SEK
POA from DK Engineering, Hertfordshire, UK
JUST IN CASE our celebration of all things F50 still hasn’t convinced you, here’s a particularly special example of its even more legendary predecessor. If you’re up on your F40 chassis numbers then this car o ered by DK Engineering is a ‘7-series’ production example. In simple terms, it’s one of the earlier cars – the 74th o the production line to be precise – and is unadorned by adjustable suspension or catalytic converters. Look particularly closely and you’ll see bare aluminium intercoolers and more ‘lightweight’ t and nish of carbon-Kevlar components.
Leaving the factory in January 1988, intended for sale in Switzerland, this F40 was rst destined to appear at the Geneva motor show alongside the
1989 Ferrari F40 The Insider
then-brand-new Mondial T. Ferrari historian Marcel Massini has con rmed the car’s identity, even verifying the fact that sliding windows (a desirable option) were ed speci cally for the show; it was then put back to standard speci cation before being o cially registered and sold in 1990.
e F40 lived a relatively pampered life in Europe for the rst ten years of its life, showing fewer than 1000km when it was o ered in 1998, and the current custodian bought the car in 2000. It is now o ered with 12,500km and – importantly – retains all of those wonderful early details, including the original so -fabric seats, as well as a spare pair of re-trimmed seats for regular use. dkeng.co.uk
HOW’S BUSINESS? 2024 was tough, but people seem ready to spend again and, more importantly, to want to enjoy themselves. What’s the secret of your success? Pendine built its reputation on transparency, knowledge and authenticity. We’re passionate about the cars we sell, and that enthusiasm resonates with our clients and translates into our business. Is the market as strong as it was? Yes, but with important nuances. Buyers are being more discerning, so sellers need to be realistic.
What should people buy now? ere are some great analogue cars available at brilliant prices, such as Aston Martin V12 Vantage or DBS with a manual gearbox, Porsche 911 996 GT3 or 996 Turbo (manual), and the Ferrari F430 or 458 Italia. Also, ’90s supercars have soared, but the JaguarSport XJR-15 is still undervalued. What cars are shockingly good value? Cars from the 1950s and ’60s seem to be out of vogue and there are some great buys out there. A home-market Jaguar XK120 Roadster with club racing history for around £100k? Yes please!
hew Staton
car
There’s something charming about the oddly proportioned Avanti II. This example in Sweden is in fine fe le, and one of only 73 built in 1981. autoclassica.com (SE)
1996 Toyota Classic
$24,900
Built to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Toyota’s first car, the AA, it’s actually based on a Hilux chassis, and with just 100 built is exceedingly rare. classicautomall.com (US)
FRACTIONAL OFFERS
Porsche 996 GT3 RS
£5000 per syndicate allocation
Just 682 of these track-focused GT3 RS models were built, and they remained a bit of a bargain track weapon for many years. TheCarCrowd is o ering 33 allocations of a great example. thecarcrowd.uk
Ma
Head of Sales at Pendine, a classic
dealership located in the Blast House at Bicester Heritage.
1929 Bentley 4½ Litre Le Mans
Impressive restoration by top marque specialist. Matching numbers, super nice on the road, Hay report.
1934 Invicta S Type by Carbodies
One of only 77 built, highly original and with an international history. Mechanically sorted with matching numbers.
1939 Frazer Nash BMW 328 ‘JPA 3’ is fresh from a 400,000 Euro restoration and must be one of the best. In the right hands will win rallies. Also available
Proof that something designed with economy in mind can also be huge fun
THE BMW ISETTA really is a prime example of why less can sometimes equal more. Have you ever seen a bubblecar driving around and, even if only for a split second, considered that they are not only incredibly cute and quirky, but actually make a great deal of sense? Small, very cheap to run and full of joy, these tiny vehicles once helped to mobilise entire nations but, while mobility may once have been their primary purpose, today these characterful little vehicles can represent a whole lot of fun.
Although later made successful by BMW, the Isetta story actually began in Italy, when motorcycle manufacturer Iso – later the company that would bring us the Grifo and others – decided to develop something that would take advantage of what Renzo Rivolta deemed to be a gap between the motorcycle market and the hugely popular small car market, then dominated by the Fiat 500.
The result was the Isetta, launched at the end of 1953 and combining the super-efficient and cheap mechanicals of a motorcycle, with the (relative) safety and practicality of a proper car: four wheels (with a wide track at the front and narrow at the rear) clothed in an iconic egg-shaped body. The driver and passengers enter through a hinged front door, which takes the steering wheel and instrument binnacle with it as it opens.
These early Isettas made do with 9.5bhp, and performance was glacial – with a top speed of 47mph. Still, a number were entered in the Mille Miglia, cleaning up in the economy class! Although the Isetta wasn’t a huge commercial success in Italy, Iso licensed the concept to many companies around the globe, including France, Spain and as far away as
South America. In 1955, BMW negotiated to buy the tooling, with plans to begin German production. Despite that, the German company ended up re-engineering the Isetta to such a degree that none of the original parts were actually interchangeable. When the first BMW Isetta 250 arrived in 1955, it was a big hit – in part due to the fact it could be driven on a motorcycle licence in West Germany, thanks to the 250cc engine being a modified version of the four-stroke single-cylinder from one of BMW’s motorbikes. When new German licence regulations in 1956 closed that particular loophole, it prompted BMW to increase capacity to 297cc for the Isetta 300 model. While the new variant required a full driving licence, it was also slightly more powerful, which enhanced the driving experience, even if top speed stubbornly remained at 53mph. In 1957 a UK-built version was put into production under licence by Dunsfold Tools Ltd. Initially it proved unpopular and a three-wheeled version was soon launched, which could take advantage of less strict tax and licence requirements. The ultimate evolution of the Isetta arrived later that year: the four-seater BMW 600. This was in effect a stretched version, sharing the same front suspension and hinged door. To make extra space for rear passengers, however, the wheelbase was extended, the rear track widened and a side access door added. Power was via a 20bhp 582cc flat-twin engine. Production of BMW Isettas stopped in 1962. Small in size but huge in presence, the Isetta certainly has an appeal today. Do you have a small space to fill in the garage? Find a good one, squeeze in, and prepare for some laughs. Matthew Hayward
THE LOWDOWN
WHAT TO PAY
For such a small car, the Isetta has always commanded a strong following, and equally resilient values. You can expect to find a running and driving example for around £10,000-15,000. Exceptionally nice or fully restored cars tend to be offered from about £25,000 up to £35,000. There are far more 300s on the market, but prices of 250s are much the same. UK prices are slightly lower than those in the EU and, while museumgrade cars often sell for big money during Monterey Week, US values are broadly in line with Europe.
If you’re looking for the more family-friendly 600, as once driven by Sir Stirling Moss, then you should expect to spend a little more. Prices for tidy examples tend to start at £15,000 and rise to £40,000 for the very best.
LOOK OUT FOR
Although there’s seemingly not much to the Isetta, it’s vital that all the metalwork is checked for rust. As with a conventional car, wheelarches can suffer –especially if it’s a car that’s been used during UK winters.
Parts supply is good, so items such as window rubbers and canvas roofs can be replaced easily if they’re looking tired. Parts prices can soon add up, though, so it’s worth considering a wellrestored car to begin with.
The motorcycle-derived running gear is easy to maintain and is generally hard-wearing, but an overheating engine is possible if the cooling fan is not operating correctly. Most engines have been rebuilt by now, but don’t be scared off by one that’s in need of work – it’s an easy job to refresh.
Ensure that all four gears engage smoothly because worn linkages and bushes are common. The rest is just general classic car (or motorcycle) maintenance.
1963 ASTON MARTIN DB4 SERIES V VANTAGE
(CHASSIS NO; 1208/R)
1960
ASTON MARTIN DB4 GT
(CHASSIS NO; 0137/R)
Black pearl with soft tan leather, this is the last series V built according to the Aston Martin register and has been brought up to full GT specification by marque experts including the correct twin plug head
Snow shadow grey with red leather interior, 1 of 75 made, original matching numbers car with original registration. Full body off restoration in 2015 by marque specialists, extensive history file and race history.
1969 FERRARI 365 GTC
Blu sera with cream leather, 1 of 21 UK cars made, great ownership provenance, full bare-metal respray in 1997 with a re-trim and complete engine rebuild in October 2000, extensive history file.
C HARLES P RINCE
1926 Sunbeam Super-Sports 3 Litre Twin Cam
An important example of one of these highly underrated cars. (The twin cam driven by Chassagne and Sammy Davis came in second at Le Mans in the 1925 race beating the Bentleys!) This car is thought to be the ex George Duller Essex Six Hours Race car. It was “Works” prepared for the race along with another car driven by Segrave. It was found abandoned and dismantled in the late 1930’s and has subsequently been totally rebuilt and successfully rallied internationally. Full details on request.
1924 Bentley 3 Litre Speed Model Rare original 2 seater. Full history.
1935 Bentley 3.5/4.25 Litre Continental Tourer by Oxborrow & Fuller. Full history.
We are always eager to buy important collectors cars. All cars can be seen tried and tested at Quin Hay Farm Petersfield Hampshire GU321BZ or in central London. Please see our website for
Bramley Motor Cars
Bramley Motor Cars
2024/24 BMW Alpina B5 GT Touring.
Special Order Verde British over a Lavalina Cognac Hide Package 2 interior. Fantastic Optional Specification. 1,000 Miles.
2015/65 Ferrari 458 Speciale. Argento Nurburgring over Nero Alcantara. 1 owner from new. 5,228 Miles.
£369,850
£174,850
2008/58 Ferrari 430 Scuderia. Argento Nurburgring over Nero Alcantara. Just 3 keepers from new and a comprehensive history. 8,365 Miles.
£199,850
2024/24 BMW Alpina B5 GT Touring. Special Order Verde British over a Lavalina Cognac Hide Package 2 interior. Fantastic Optional Specification. 1,000 Miles. £174,850
2024/73 Porsche 992 GT3 Manual. Arctic Grey with an Exclusive Manufaktur Houndstooth interior. Clubsport Package, Front Axle Lift System, Porsche Ceramic Brakes, BOSE Sound System +++. 354 Miles.
2024/73 Porsche 992 GT3 Manual. Arctic Grey with an Exclusive Manufaktur Houndstooth interior. Clubsport Package, Front Axle Lift System, Porsche Ceramic Brakes, BOSE Sound System +++. 354 Miles. £204,850
2019/69 Ferrari Pista. Argento Nurburgring over Blu Scuro Alcantara. 1 owner and delivery (plus service) mileage from new. 230 Miles.
£349,850
2023/73 Porsche 992 GT3. PTS Black Olive with a Black Leather and
2023/73 Porsche 992 GT3. PTS Black Olive with a Black Leather and Race-Tex interior. 102 Miles. £194,850
2015/15 Ferrari 458 Speciale. Grigio Silverstone over a Charcoal and Nero Alcantara interior. 1 Owner From New. 4,560 Miles. £379,850
1971/V Aston martin DB6 MKII Vantage. Winchester Blue over Parchment Hide. 1 of just 62 Vantage Specification cars. 69,500 Miles.
2018/18 Porsche 991.2 GT3 RS. White with a Black Leather and Race-Tex interior. 27,624 Miles.
2018/18 Porsche 991.2 GT3 RS. White with a Black Leather and Race-Tex interior. 27,624 Miles. £159,850
2019/69 Ferrari 812 Superfast. Verde Abetone over a Cuoio Leather interior. 5,303 Miles.
2000/W BMW Z8 Roadster. Titanium Silver over Black and Red Hide. Launch colour specification. 21,840 Miles.
£184,850
£325,000
2013/13 Mercedes-Benz SLS Roadster. Imola Grey over a Black Leather interior.
2019/69 Ferrari 812 Superfast. Verde Abetone over a Cuoio Leather interior. 5,303 Miles. £239,850
2013/13 Mercedes-Benz SLS Roadster. Imola Grey over a Black Leather interior. 16,030 Miles. £129,850
2011/60 Mercedes-Benz G55 AMG. Obsidian Black over Black Leather. Comprehensive Mercedes Service History. 21,807 Miles.
£89,850
2006/06 Ferrari F430 Spider Manual. Giallo Modena over a Nero Leather interior. 27,750 Miles. £134,850
SIMILAR LOW MILEAGE VEHICLES TAKEN ON CONSIGNMENT AT COMPETITIVE
VIEWING BY
Bramley Motor Cars
Order Verde British over a Lavalina Cognac Hide Package 2 interior. Fantastic Optional Specification. 1,000 Miles. £174,850
Aston Martin V8 Vantage 580X
Year – 1989
Miles – 595
Price – £349,850
Introduced in 1986, the X-Pack variant of the Vantage was the final and most powerful version of the V8 Vantage model, confirming Aston Martin’s entry into the supercar club of the day.
This example was first registered on the 1st of March 1989, which was approximately 10 months before the last Vantage was produced, making this the 30th from last V8 Vantage to have been built.
It was supplied to its first keeper by Murray Motor Company, who were Aston Martin’s official retailer in Edinburgh. It is believed that the first owner kept the Vantage until 2012, when it was sold to a collector by Aston Martin Works of Newport Pagnell. The Vantage formed part of a large private collection and it is understood, was hardly used in the years that followed.
Approximately 8 years later, it was purchased by renowned and highly respected marque specialist R.S. Williams Ltd of Cobham, Surrey who effectively carried out a full restoration of the Vantage, including and not limited to, stripping the car and repainting the bare metal shell in York Red (its original colour, having previously been Suffolk Red).
2024/73 Porsche 992 GT3 Manual. Arctic Grey with an Exclusive Manufaktur Houndstooth interior. Clubsport Package, Front Axle Lift System, Porsche Ceramic Brakes, BOSE Sound System +++. 354 Miles. £204,850
The Vantage was purchased by a U.K.-based collector whilst the restoration was well underway, and he took the opportunity to choose the Champagne Hide with contrasting House of Lords Red seat piping with matching Wilton carpeting and hide binding. The veneers have also been refinished and the dashboard illumination benefits from being upgraded to LED lighting. The interior also benefits from having been upgraded to ‘Prince of Wales’ specification switch gear.
The engine was rebuilt to RSW’s 5.7 Litre specification, and the dyno sheet is on file. It produces a maximum of 405 BHP @ 6,000 rpm and 415lb-ft @ 4,500 rpm. Both the ZF 5-speed gearbox and rear differential have been overhauled and it has also been fitted with a large bore exhaust system, manufactured by RSW. The manual gear change is courtesy of an RSW short-shift gear lever upgrade, which is very nice, indeed. During the restoration process, it received a full mechanical rebuild of all mechanical items. It is of course fitted with 18” Ronal wheels, which are wrapped in Michelin Pilot Sport tyres and fitted with a space saver spare wheel.
2023/73 Porsche 992 GT3. PTS Black Olive with a Black Leather and Race-Tex interior. 102 Miles. £194,850
2018/18 Porsche 991.2 GT3 RS. White with a Black Leather and Race-Tex interior. 27,624 Miles. £159,850
Lastly, the audio system was upgraded to include a new Blaupunkt Bremen Head Unit, which can be connected to a modern telephone and includes Bluetooth connectivity.
2013/13 Mercedes-Benz SLS Roadster. Imola Grey over a Black Leather interior. 16,030 Miles. £129,850
It has been a few years since we have been able to offer for sale, what is effectively a ‘new” V8 Vantage from period, albeit with some meaningful upgrades.
2015/15 Ferrari 458 Speciale. Grigio Silverstone over a Charcoal and Nero Alcantara interior. 1 Owner From New. 4,560 Miles.
a
2006/06 Ferrari F430
Special
Verde Abetone over
Cuoio Leather
Spider Manual. Giallo Modena over a Nero Leather
1951 Ferrari 212 Inter: Vignale / Drogo, Mille Miglia 1952, 1954. Ground up restoration. Race and Rally ready. Unique one of a kind, matching numbers. Piero Drogo, a subcontractor to Ferrari Factory; wins well-known.
WE WILL BUY AND CONSIGN ALL FERRARI AND ALL VINTAGE SPORTS RACING
1968 Fiat Dino Spider: Rare. Frame-up resto; bare metal repaint. Driveline & suspension rebuild; new interior top & chrome. With photo docs. Stunning!
1995 DeTomaso Guara, silver/blue leather, 1 of 38 coupes, 1,500 miles as new, 4 cam 280hp, BMW V8, 6sp Getrag. Racecar performance for the street.
1965 Porsche 356SC Cabriolet: Matching #s, 1 of 533. 3-owner, full docs, COA. 67k miles. One repaint. Euro version. Outstanding original throughout.
AS Motorsport ltd
Poplar Farm, Bressingham, Diss, Norfolk, IP22 2AP
Tel: 01379688356 Mob: 07909531816
Web: www.asmotorsport.co.uk
Email: info@asmotorsport.co.uk
ASM R1 Stirling Moss tribute car enjoying track time at Goodwood.
ASM hand build bespoke versions of the R1 roadster, inspired by the Aston Martin race cars that won Le Mans and the world Sportscar championship in 1959. Contact us for details of commission builds and stock.
Plating Services Ltd
Specialist electroplaters, polishers and metal finishers.
Specialist electroplaters, polishers and metal finishers.
Specialist electroplaters, polishers and metal finishers.
Re-chroming to the highest concours and show standards
Re-chroming to the highest concours and show standards
Re-chroming to the highest concours and show standards
Here at Aston Engineering, we are one of the largest stockists of genuine Aston Martin parts, with thousands of products available in-stock, ready for same-day worldwide dispatch. We also offer an in-house re-manufacturing service. All Heritage models are covered, from the 1958 Aston Martin DB4 through to the 2007 Aston Martin V12 Vanquish. *15% discount only applies to first order, quote offer code: “FIFTEEN”. Trade accounts are available.
Tel: +44 (0)1332 374874
parts@astonengineering.co.uk
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Situated 5 minutes from the A3 on the Surrey / Hampshire / Sussex borders convenient for Goodwood Discreet secure insulated storage facility for any car or motorcycle. For further information Tel: 01420 472 273 E-mail: southlandsccs@gmail.com Web: www.southlandscherishedcarstorage.co.uk
Onsite service and repair available
644599
Established 1978
2008 model year Aston Martin DB9 Volante in Onyx Black with Cream Truffle hide interior. This is a beautiful example that has covered only 52,300 miles with a fully stamped up service history. It is in fabulous condition reflecting just how well it has been kept. The spec includes satellite navigation, climate control, electric heated seats, cruise control, front and rear heated screens and a fully adjustable steering column. Fully serviced and ready to be enjoyed at £32,950
2009 Aston Martin DB9, in Toro Red metalic with Cream hide interior. Built to a high specification which includes Automatic transmission with paddle shift option, Climate control, Satellite navigation, heated electric sports seats with lumbar support and a fully adjustable steering column. It has covered a total of 42,700 miles and comes with a fully stamped up service book and a DVLA MOT record. A very rare Aston Martin in this attractive colour scheme which we think definitely suits this model. Very competitively priced at £37,950
2018 Aston Martin DB11 V8 Volante in Magnetic Silver with two tone
and
hide interior. High specification including Touchtronic transmission, high spec premium audio system with blue tooth, high spec cobra tracking, electric heated seats, fully adjustable electric steering column and 20” Diamond cut alloys. One owner and a mere 11,700 miles from new and in “As New” condition. Now offered for sale at a huge saving on list at £82,950.
Obsidian Black
Mocha
Autobiography
Sébastien Loeb
The most successful rally driver of all time
I COME FROM the Alsace region of France with no connection to cars or racing whatsoever. My mother Ingrid was a maths teacher and my father Guy was a gymnastics coach – my early life was spent doing gymnastics [he was multiple regional champion], specialising in floor and the high bar. Then I got a moped and my passion for gymnastics waned as I raced around on that with my friends, but my only goal was to get my driving licence. I still do gymnastics maybe once every ten years; a few years ago I went to the gym with my daughter and was really proud I could still do a double backflip. The next day I really suffered!
With the help of my grandmother, I bought my first car, a Renault 5 GT Turbo, when I was 18. My passion was for driving much more than for cars and I would spend hours in a field with two corners just practising over and over until I got them perfect. I didn’t have the goal or the money to go racing, I was just challenging myself.
At that point my parents sent me to work in a factory in the holidays to show me that if I didn’t go to school that’s where I might end up. Maybe I was not that bright because all I thought was ‘but if I work here I can put fuel in my car and maybe get some tyres and I don’t need more than that’. I did a lot of manual jobs, including installing windows in Germany, before training as an electrician in France – it was not my passion at all but I could put even more fuel in my car!
Then I entered a national driving competition in France open to anyone aged under 25. You pay €15 and enter a regional competition to qualify for the national final, the winner getting a season in rallying. The first year I was fastest in the final, but the judges awarded the prize to the
guy who came second; the second time I dominated the final but made a mistake and lost it again. Afterwards I was approached by Dominique Heintz [still a close friend and co-founder of Sébastien Loeb Racing in 2012], who said: ‘If you are leading out of 15,000 drivers two years in a row you must be something special and I will help you.’ He ran me in motorsport for three seasons and in the third I won the Citroën Saxo Trophy, so Citroën got interested. They supplied a car for the French gravel championship, which I won, then the Junior world championship in 2001, which I won, then the French championship, which I won.
Then Citroën put me in WRC and I finished second in my first race in San Remo, Italy, before starting my first full season in 2003. My teammates were Sainz and McRae so I was thinking ‘Now I will find out if I am good.’ I won the first rally, we did 1-2-3 on the podium in Monte Carlo but that was tarmac and I knew I was competitive on tarmac. Finding out I could also win on gravel was a turning point in my career. I retired from rallying full-time in 2012 [after nine championships on the trot with Citroën] and my biggest battles were with Marcus Grönholm – he was sometimes faster, but I was more consistent. I think the secret to my success was that I had really precise pace notes, more precise than most others. They helped me to take fewer risks than other drivers, and, at that level, that makes the difference. Take François Duval: if we were on a Super Stage he was faster every time, but in a rally he took more risks, maybe because his notes were less detailed. I optimised my notes so that I could have a smooth driving style.
The thing is, I never knew about rallying until I did it, and if I hadn’t tried rallying I might never have moved beyond motorbikes, so I was always curious to try other forms of motorsport. I had two goes at Le Mans with Henri Pescarolo. It was amazing and I really enjoyed it, but I was not used to driving with my head outside! In 2005 I had to do ten laps to be authorised to race and the testing day was on a Sunday and the road was closing at 8pm in the evening but my rally in Greece only finished at 2pm in the afternoon, so I finished, skipped all the usual post-rally things, ran to a private plane and landed directly at Le Mans, jumped in the car and did my ten laps. My teammate crashed that year and in 2006 the Audi R10s arrived so we only finished second.
There was also Pikes Peak [he won in record time in 2013], Rallycross, Race of Champions [five-times winner], GTs, Touring Cars, Extreme E and the Porsche Cup, and I did my first Dakar in 2016. I now do Rally Raid, because it is only five races a season. Nowadays, I just try to have fun in competition and in life. I test and do a race or rally here and there, I spend time with my daughter, I have property investments and a few ambassadorial roles, including Richard Mille. Richard is a true motorsport fan and I love the technicality of his watches. Car-wise I am not a collector, but I have a Ferrari F355 and Renault 5 Turbo 1, plus a Porsche 911R and Ferrari SF90 and 15-20 bikes. But what you can do in a rally car you cannot do in any Ferrari or Porsche, so the best car is a WRC… though I cannot drive it on the road.
F1 was a great adventure, too, even though it came to nothing. Red Bull always gave me a present when I won a championship; one time I went in a helicopter and did the loops and once they asked if I wanted to do the official test with the Red Bull F1 car. So I went to Barcelona and did a day of testing for fun, but was eighth fastest of 17 drivers. Then they called and asked if I wanted to do the end of the season with them. It’s difficult to say no to Formula 1! I was still rallying, though, and the schedules made it impossible, so when my WRC championship lead started disappearing we focused on that and would just do the final F1 race of 2009 at Abu Dhabi. In the end I didn’t get a superlicence because I did not have the experience in F1, and hadn’t come up through F2 and F3. That is not a regret, though: I cannot have regrets because I started as an electrician and now I am nine-times World Rally Champion!
THANKS TO Richard Mille, with which Sébastien Loeb is a partner.
Interview by James Elliott. Portrait by Mathieu Bonnevie
GRAND TOURING
1989 FERRARI 412i MANUAL
One of 24 UK RHD manual examples and probably the best following an extensive renovation programme by the finest specialists. Finished in a great colour combination and only 19,000 miles from new.
LEGACY MACHINE SEQUENTIAL EVO
Groundbreaking dual chronograph
Unprecedented range of timing modes
Patented Twinverter binary switch and internally-jewelled clutch shafts
